Ali Hassan Khalil files complaint over $450M Spinneys purchase allegations

BEIRUT — Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil filed a complaint on Monday against "unknown persons" over the publication of what he described as false and fabricated news linking him to an alleged commercial deal.

The complaint comes hours after rumors were shared by some social media, claiming that the MP "purchased the Spinneys supermarket chain in Lebanon for $450 million, using suspicious funds."

"MP Khalil filed a complaint today, through his legal representative, before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Appeal against unknown persons and anyone whom the investigation may reveal as a perpetrator, instigator, or accomplice in the crime of publishing false and fabricated news about him related to an alleged commercial deal with no factual basis, and of using a forged document bearing his name", the MP's office said in a statement.

The office noted that the legal representative is "in the process of seeking a decision from the urgent matters judge in the coming hours to ban the publication or republication of the aforementioned news, under penalty of legal prosecution." "Khalil considered this act to be part of a political campaign aimed at targeting him and tarnishing his reputation, within a broader context that did not begin today", the office added.

Over the past two days, several social media users, citing the local outlet Sot Beirut International (SBI), shared claims alleging that "documents prove the involvement of Khalil in the purchase of the Spinneys supermarket chain in Lebanon for $450 million, using suspicious funds, at a time when the populations of the South are suffering from poverty, the inability to meet their daily needs, and the destruction of their homes."

However, L'Orient Today could not find the rumor in SBI's website. These users have also attached a document that dates back to last Thursday, which, according to them, is Khalil's request to buy Spinneys.