Aoun's Camp Says 'No Bargain' as Report Says Major Deal Reached
There will be no deal at the expense of the judicial investigation that Judge Tarek Bitar is conducting, sources informed on President Michel Aoun's stances said on Monday.
"President Aoun will not exchange the port probe with the reactivation of any constitutional authority," the sources told MTV, dismissing an earlier report by the same TV network.
MTV had earlier reported that Hizbullah has mediated a deal between Aoun's camp and Speaker Nabih Berri that would entail high-level judicial appointments leading to preventing Bitar from interrogating ex-ministers. Aoun's camp would in return secure the approval of its Constitutional Council appeal against the electoral law's amendments, MTV had reported.
The TV network later said that Berri is "still refusing that Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim be part of the new appointments included in the proposed 'deal.'"
Ex-minister Ghassan Atallah of the Free Patriotic Movement for his part said "there will be no settlement in the judicial file."
He also denied the presence of a "Hizbullah mediation" between Berri and the FPM, noting that he does not have any information about such an endeavor.
Sources close to FPM chief Jebran Bassil also told al-Jadeed that reports of "any bargain or settlement to topple the port probe or the investigative judge are baseless," adding that Bassil will have a speech in which he will explain his movement's stance.
Source: Naharnet
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