President Michel Suleiman did not ask caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar to take judicial measures against Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, informed sources told An Nahar daily, claiming that the request to “study” the case was made “orally” and then interpreted by a memo released by the presidency’s general-directorate.

The sources told An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the oral request was based on article 49 of the constitution and did not have a reference for the referral of Rifi to the judiciary over his rejection to comply with caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to pull members of the ISF’s Information Branch from a building affiliated with the telecommunications ministry.

Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi stated that he has not yet looked into the President Michel Suleiman’s demand for legal action to be taken against him following his refusal to abide by caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to evacuate a Telecom Ministry building last week.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Tuesday: “I have not examined his demand and I don’t know what it’s based upon.”

The parliamentary telecommunications committee held a meeting on Monday to discuss the suggestion to form a specialized technical team to determine what is located on the second floor of a Telecommunications Ministry building at Adliyeh, revealed the head of the committee MP Hasan Fadlallah.

He said during a press conference after a heated committee session at parliament: “A dispute erupted over who has the authority to appoint an Ogero Telecom member in the technical team.”

The presidency announced on Monday that President Michel Suleiman had requested that the Justice Ministry take legal action against Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi over his refusal to obey the orders of caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.

On Thursday, Baroud had ordered Rifi to pull out ISF Intelligence Bureau personnel from the second floor of the building affiliated with the telecom ministry, where OGERO Telecom is in charge of the installations of the third mobile network donated by China to Lebanon according to a cabinet resolution.

Ziad Baroud has said that the settlement for the army to take over the second floor of a building affiliated with the telecommunications ministry did not mean that the crisis was solved.

Baroud, who relieved himself of his duties as caretaker interior minister last week, said that he doesn’t consider himself involved with the settlement because a solution to Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi’s rejection to abide his orders was not found yet.

President Michel Suleiman and caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, who on Thursday absolved himself from his duties at the ministry, are reportedly “inclined to refer Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to a judicial inquiry for repeatedly disobeying their orders to pull out the ISF Intelligence Bureau personnel of the second floor of the building affiliated with the telecom ministry, where OGERO Telecom is in charge of the installations of the third mobile network donated by China to Lebanon according to a cabinet resolution.”

Sources following up on this issue told An Nahar daily in remarks published Sunday that state prosecutor Saeed Mirza has asked Suleiman and Baroud to “file a lawsuit so that the judiciary can act accordingly.”

Hizbullah condemned on Friday the incident at a Telecommunications Ministry building at Adlieh on Thursday, saying that it raises questions over whether Lebanon has official security forces or statelets independent of the state.

It said in a statement: “Yesterday’s development is an indication that Lebanon’s institutions are at risk of being emptied of their constitutional and legal elements in favor of personal interests of sides claiming to respect the state while they are actually seeking to destroy it.”

Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi stated on Friday that he won’t allow the mobile phone network in Lebanon to be transferred to the private sector except with the government’s approval.

He told LBC television: “The Security forces would be geld responsible if these stations are destroyed or stolen.”

The March 8 forces said that as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, President Michel Suleiman should resolve the Telecommunications Ministry crisis and force all security forces to abide by his decisions.

A high-ranking March 8 source told As Safir daily in remarks published Friday that amid a caretaking cabinet and Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s decision to absolve himself from his duties, the responsibility of Suleiman lies in addressing the issue as all security forces become his subordinates.

President Michel Suleiman has reportedly ordered Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to clear a building affiliated with the Telecommunications Ministry from his men after they prevented Caretaker Telecom Minister Charbel Nahhas from entering the facility on Thursday.

Sources close to Suleiman told several Beirut dailies published Friday that after the president studied the issue legally and constitutionally, he told Rifi to abide by Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to pull his forces out of the building in Beirut’s al-Adliyeh area.