Aoun Says Cabinet Crisis Will be Resolved, Denies Party Linked to Red Diesel Scandal
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that officials are working on resolving the cabinet crisis, stressing that his party is not linked to the red diesel scandal.
“We are working on legalizing the cabinet’s decree concerning the transportation allowance instead of raising the issue to the Shura Council,” Aoun said during a dinner banquet for his party’s Engineers Association.
A decree on the transportation and education allowances that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, who is part of Aoun’s parliamentary bloc, is refusing to sign is at the center of the cabinet’s deadlock.
Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the ministers of Aoun’s Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc have bickered over the premier’s decision to appoint top civil servants in state posts reserved for Christians without consulting them.
Their dispute worsened last week after Miqati said ministers who don’t want to abide by the cabinet’s decision should resign. But Aoun slammed the premier, saying he should quit.
He stressed that officials are working on “resolving the cabinet crisis.”
Aoun denied that the FPM is linked to the red diesel scandal.
The scandal erupted after complaints that huge amounts of red diesel were sold to oil distribution companies by the Deir Ammar refinery in northern Lebanon on January 18 - the last day of the government subsidy of LL3,000 per jerry can.
The oil companies have reportedly made millions of dollars in profits after selling an alleged 8 million liters at a nonsubsidized price.
“Those who want to express an opinion do not insult others while they don’t have any evidence on what they claim,” he noted.
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is loyal to Aoun, has been accused by the opposition of being involved in the scandal, but according to media reports he has tasked an investigation committee with probing the distribution of red diesel during subsidized and non-subsidized periods since 2004.
Aoun said that rumors are more important than facts in Lebanon “but if people who speak the truth didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be able to continue.”
“You should be aware of the continuous fabrications,” he warned.
He urged officials to “return to their morals to safeguard the nation’s rights.”
“Don’t let corruption become a way of living; don’t turn theft into a virtue. Robbery remains a crime and there’s a punishment against those who commit it,” Aoun said.
The FPM leader remarked that there is no control over the spending of the financial institutions in Lebanon.
“I will not address the grants and money transfers that were stolen and lost, nor the fake companies that are collecting the TVA,” he said.
“They can deprive us from everything but no one can take away our dignity and freedom,” he added.
Source: Naharnet
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