MP Qabbani Says Central Inspection Board Probe Underway into Aridi-Safadi Case

The head of the parliamentary public works committee said that the Central Inspection Board has launched an investigation into the engineering aspect of alleged construction violations that emerged after a spat between two cabinet ministers.

MP Mohammed Qabbani told An Nahar daily in remarks published on Thursday that the head of the Board, George Awad, confirmed to him during a telephone conversations about the probe into the accusations and counter accusations made by caretaker Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi.

The investigation would be in parallel with another probe launched by Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim into the financial irregularities.

An Nahar said Wednesday that Ibrahim is expected to summon Aridi and Safadi to question them over the allegations of corruption.

Ibrahim has already asked the authorities to provide him with the text of a news conference made by Aridi and several TV interviews of Safadi.

The investigation launched by the financial prosecutor could lead to the questioning of several officials in both ministries, An Nahar said.

The finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it was coordinating with the financial prosecutor.

It did not confirm the report that Safadi would be summoned by Ibrahim.

Aridi accused Safadi during a press conference on Monday of withholding funds from his ministry for road maintenance in an effort to pressure him into approving a construction violation by the finance minister.

But Safadi swiftly denied the allegations in remarks to several local TV stations. He accused Aridi of launching a political campaign against him.

Qabbani said in his remarks to An Nahar that he hoped Awad would speed up his investigation to brief the committee about its results.