Aerial view of Beirut's International Airport on March 7, 2020.(Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP)
BEIRUT — Financial Public Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim filed charges on Thursday against 15 employees and brokers at the Beirut international airport for embezzlement of public funds, forgery, bribery and illicit enrichment, the state-run National News Agency reported. Ibrahim referred the case to the first acting investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra.
When contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, Ibrahim explained that the employees targeted by these proceedings "are suspected of having issued falsified receipts." Dates of manifests and documents related to cargo insurance were falsified in order to avoid paying taxes on the basis of the LL15,000 rate, in force since December," while the dollar rate was previously LL1,500, the prosecutor said.
On Wednesday, General Security announced the dismantling of a network of traffickers of counterfeit dollars at the Beirut airport, saying it had seized the counterfeit money, which was destined for Turkey. Similar counterfeit money laundering operations have been foiled in Lebanon in recent months against the backdrop of a now more than three-year-old economic crisis. In October 2021, a Turkish traveler was arrested as he was about to leave Beirut for Ankara in possession of counterfeit banknotes equivalent to $220,000.
In addition, several arrests of officials involved in corruption cases have taken place in recent weeks, including at the Vehicle Registration Center in Lebanon, where more than 50 officials, driving school managers and brokers have been arrested, among them the current director general of the road traffic department, Hoda Salloum.
Meanwhile, the Baabda prosecutor's office is investigating numerous cases of embezzlement by officials in the land department, particularly in Baabda and Metn, who have allegedly collected huge sums of money through bribes from taxpayers.