Head of Tender Board appears at Justice Palace

BEIRUT —The head of the Director General of the Tender Board at the Central Inspection Board, Jean Ellieh, appeared at the Justice Palace in Beirut on Tuesday morning after being summoned by the general prosecutor’s office at the Court of Cassation for criticizing the State Shura Council.

Here’s what we know:

    • The State Shura Council had issued a decision at the end of March canceling the contract to award the management and operation of duty-free shops at the Beirut international airport.

    • The executive director of the Legal Agenda, lawyer Nizar Saghiyeh, told L’Orient-Le Jour that the State Shura Council had criticized the Central Inspection Board for “lack of transparency and guarantees in terms of competition” and of having “violated the principles of public procurement” in the management of its call for tenders, which it considered irregular and opaque.

    • Ellieh had accused the State Shura Council of having taken a decision motivated by “political interference” targeting the administration he manages.

    • MPs close to the protest movement, Paula Yacoubian, Waddah Sadek and Marc Daou, gathered on Tuesday morning in front of the Justice Palace in Beirut to show their support for Ellieh.

    • “I am doing my civic duty, and am honored to appear before the judges,” Ellieh tweeted on Thursday last week, sharing the official document notifying him of his summons to court. However, as of Tuesday, he appears to no longer have an account on Twitter.