Heated Debate at Telecom Committee Meeting as it Fails to Agree on Investigation Team

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.”

He explained that caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas insisted that he has the authority to make the appointment.

“A final decision has not been made to form the team because of the dispute over it,” he added.

The MP stated that the discussions focused on who should be held responsible for the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau “rebellion” against the Interior and Telecommunications Ministers.

They also centered on whether Ogero had committed a violation in installing the third GSM network, as well as the functioning of the network itself and for whom it works for.

Fadlallah stated: “An investigation will be launched in all the aspects of the case even if it means holding another session for the parliamentary telecommunications committee.”

“We want to know the truth behind the network,” he stressed.

“Nahhas should form the technical team,” he added.

March 8 has accused state-run Ogero of running the network outside the legal authorities and for “suspicious objectives,” reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

A dispute erupted on Thursday when ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi refused to abide by the orders of Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud to vacate the Adliyeh building.

He ordered the Information Branch to control the facility and ban an attempt by Nahhas from relocating the facility’s equipment.