Mikati denies former MP's allegations of deception and theft, threatens lawsuit

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati's press office insisted Sunday that allegations levelled against the premier on Saturday by former MP Salim Karam "are untrue" threatened to file a lawsuit over the accusations.

Karam, a former Zgharta MP and minister of state, accused Mikati of "deceiving" him and "robbing" him of "land, which is valued at $6 million," in an interview published by the Nidaa el-Watan newspaper on Saturday.

In his interview, Karam recounts two different cases. One related to an incident in October 2011 during a visit to Lebanon by the Irish president. According to Karam, during this visit, a yacht associated with the Irish delegation faced accusations of drug smuggling, which were settled by paying "bribes" to local officials. Karam claims Mikati dismissed the incident when Karam brought it to his attention during a cabinet meeting. L'Orient-Le Jour found no evidence of reports on this accusation in the Lebanese media at the time of the visit in question or since.

Karam also alleges that Mikati had promised to establish a commercial center similar to the Beirut "downtown" area on land Karam says he owns in Tripoli but failed to follow through. Karam alleges Mikati ultimately claimed ownership of the land in question. When Karam confronted the secretary-general of the cabinet at the time, Souheil Bouji, regarding the unresolved status of the land, Bouji reportedly responded that the matter had not been concluded.

In response to these allegations, Mikati's office denied, in a statement, any involvement in "deceptive or unlawful activities," categorically stating that the claims made by Karam are "not true." Mikati challenged Karam to produce evidence supporting his accusations and claimed that his lawyer was preparing a judicial complaint.

Mikati's press office was not available to comment to L'Orient Today on the matter at the time of publication of this article. 

Mikati, one of Lebanon's richest men, has been the target of multiple allegations of corruption. 

In 2019, Monaco ended a three-year investigation into Mikati and his family over corruption allegations due to insufficient evidence, Reuters reported at the time.

A Lebanese news organization, Daraj, reported in 2021 on the “Pandora Papers," a set of leaked documents purporting to reveal offshore transactions involving global political and business figures, including Mikati. Mikati said in response that his family wealth comes from a communications business, the M1 group, which has been audited in the past and is legal.

In October 2019, Mount Lebanon prosecutor Ghada Aoun initiated proceedings against Mikati and Bank Audi regarding suspicions of illicit enrichment in relation a subsidized housing loan program. But the proceedings were opposed by Lebanon's top public prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat.