A man with vehicle license plates at the Dékouané vehicle registration center.Photo Mohammad Yassine
The Mount Lebanon Indictment Chamber, presided over by Judge Amira Chahrour, issued two indictments on Friday in corruption cases concerning the Road Traffic Department offices located in Dekouaneh in Beirut's eastern suburbs, and Ouzai in the capital's southern suburbs.
The indictments accuse department heads, managers, and civil servants of committing crimes and misdemeanors in the performance of their duties. This includes accepting bribes, neglecting public service duties, profiting from public administrative operations, and illicit enrichment. These allegations refer to violations under articles 351, 352, 361, and 364 of the Penal Code and article 14 of law 189/2020.
Additionally, those responsible for overseeing operations face accusations of the same crimes for purportedly approving over a hundred requests for distinctive vehicle license plates and distributing driver's licenses without requiring candidates to undergo any tests.
Hoda Salloum, the former director general of the public institution, was arrested in November 2022 for further investigation into suspicions of corruption across the country's vehicle registration centers. Dozens of arrests were made over the months as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe within these centers. Salloum, along with five vehicle registration center employees, was released this April on a bail of 300 million Lebanese pounds each.
In protest of the investigation, vehicle registration centers in Dekouaneh, Saida, Nabatieh, Zahleh, and Tripoli closed their doors for several months but reopened in April.