FPM member Gebran Bassil warns against impunity in corruption cases: we cannot remain silent

The chairman of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, stressed that “the presidential vacuum and the risks of war and displacement must not make us forget the financial collapse that accelerated after October 17.”

He stressed on Tuesday that “this is a just cause that we will not forget and on which we will not remain silent, especially since former President Michel Aoun was at the origin of the judicial audit and the preliminary report gave alarming results.”

At a press conference on the issue of corruption following the movement’s regular meeting, Bassil stressed that “recovering depositors’ funds is not mere rhetoric, but requires action through recovering funds transferred abroad selectively. We have proposed a law to recover these funds.”

“To date, Alvarez & Marsal has not received the required figures and we are following up on the Optimum file,” he said, noting that “the corruption files that led to the looting of bank depositors’ funds cannot be ignored and we cannot live in a country where corruption thrives. The principle of impunity cannot be tolerated.”

He added: “We will not remain silent and, during the bloc meeting, we signed a series of questions addressed to the government in which we provided the necessary details and asked 10 questions regarding the obstacles to the exercise of judicial power and the destinations to which the funds were transferred.”

“We will give a short deadline, if we do not get a response, we will go to court. We have contacted international lawyers about the possibility of filing complaints and reports in European countries to bring the case to European courts. We will continue on this path, this is our cause, our mission and our message, and we will follow it to the end,” Bassil said.

He stressed that “Judge Ghada Aoun was targeted to have the case taken away from her, and even if you can take it away from a Lebanese judge, you cannot take it away from the Free Patriotic Movement.”