Geagea Warns of Strife if Govt. Spending Dispute is Not Resolved

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Thursday that the March 14 press conference scheduled for Friday will serve as the “final warning” for the March 8 camp to “cease its spiteful acts.”

He told the Central News Agency: “Strife may erupt if the dispute between the March 8 and 14 camps over government spending is not resolved.”

“This tension does not serve the country and the March 14 camp will not maintain its docile position for much longer,” he warned.

“I hope the officials will work on finding a solution because the divide will only widen and the abyss will deepen,” he said.

The head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora and a number of March 14 MPs are expected to hold a press conference on Friday morning in order to tackle the various governments’ extra-budgetary spending since 2006.

Geagea called on President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Najib Miqati to take the necessary measures to contain the situation.

The LF leader described the ongoing debate on the government spending as “pure duplicity because the situation on the ground is completely different than the situation some sides are trying to portray.”

“The March 14 camp rejects the saying of ‘let bygones be bygones’ regarding past financial affairs,” he stressed.

In addition, he noted that the March 8 camp had spent some $6 billion outside the state treasury during the past year, adding that it is seeking to legalize the spending through a draft law seeing as a state budget has not been approved yet.

Similar spending took place under past governments since 2005, he said.

Geagea therefore criticized the March 8 camp for seeking to take legal action against the past governments over their spending, when it had committed similar actions itself under the current government.

“We are not asking that the past governments be acquitted, but that all governments be treated equally,” he stressed.

Furthermore, he defended the spending of previous governments, saying that the details of the $11 billion that they spent can be found in Finance Ministry records.

“Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi had repeatedly announced this and the figures can be found at the ministry’s website,” he stated.

“To those who insist that the $11 billion has been stolen, why don’t they present the necessary documents to the audit agencies to prove it?” asked Geagea.

“If they really want to hold those responsible for the spending accountable, then it would be better for them to legalize the spending of the $11 billion,” he remarked.

It has been a year and a half since MP Ibrahim Kanaan became the head of parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee, “so why hasn’t anyone been held accountable for the alleged violations?” he wondered.

“It is evident that those creating the dispute over the government spending are only doing so to tarnish the image of others without even paying attention to their own reputations that have plummeted,” Geagea added.

He blamed Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement for waging such a campaign, saying that the March 14 camp is only seeking to be treated according to the law and without discrimination.

The dispute over government spending erupted last week when the March 14 opposition and mainly al-Mustaqbal bloc MPs stormed out of parliament to protest the proposal of a bill that would legalize the $5.9 billion spending made by Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet in 2011.

The lawmakers are conditioning the approval of the bill to a comprehensive settlement to the current spending and the $11 billion spent by the previous governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2009.

Lebanon has been without a state budget since 2005.

The March 8 forces, mainly the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun, are demanding records on how the $11 billion was spent.

However, Saniora stresses the spending was made to cover the expenses of increase in wages of civil servants, subsidize Electricite du Liban and pay the interest on the national debt and compensations to the victims of the July 2006 war.

He said on February 26 that the total of additional spending between 2006 and 2009 amounted to $11 billion. While the 2010 spending totaled $5 billion, and the amount spent in 2011 totaled $6 billion.