Extra-budgetary Spending Draft-Law on Track for Cabinet Approval
Premier Najib Miqati and Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan will on Monday put the final touches on a draft-law aimed at resolving the controversy on the extra-budgetary spending made in 2006-2010, the lawmaker said.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5), Kanaan said there is consensus on the approval of the draft-law formulated to resolve the $11 billion spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2009 and the $5 billion spent by the national unity cabinet of Hariri in 2010.
“I will put the final touches on it with Miqati today,” the MP said.
Miqati also told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the draft-law will be ready on Monday and denied reports about a political compromise .
The plan hasn’t been put on the agenda of a cabinet session that is set to convene at Baabda palace on Wednesday given that Miqati is still formulating it. But it could be discussed from outside the agenda if it was ready by Wednesday.
The controversial spending has stirred a dispute between the March 8 and 14 forces after Miqati’s cabinet referred its 2011 $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill to parliament for approval.
The opposition March 14 lawmakers have boycotted parliament twice and conditioned the approval of the bill to the settlement of the spending made by the previous governments.
Speaker Nabih Berri removed the $5.9 billion bill from the agenda of a parliamentary session that is scheduled to take place on Thursday pending the government’s approval of Miqati’s draft-law.
Berri told An Nahar and al-Joumhouria that as soon as he receives the draft, he would refer it to the competent parliamentary committees for discussion.
He reiterated that he would not put the $5.9 billion bill on the legislature’s agenda unless it goes hand in hand with the draft-law on the 2006-2010 spending as asked for by the March 14 alliance and mainly al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Saniora.
But the speaker “rejected any compromise or deal at the expense of public funds” and stressed that the draft-law wouldn’t be adopted before referring it to the Audit Bureau.
Berri visited President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Monday to discuss with him the details of the parliamentary session.
MP Kanaan, whose bloc was spearheading the rejection to forgo how the $11 billion was spent, also told An Nahar that article four of the draft-law states the Audit Bureau’s authority to carry out the necessary auditing on all financial accounts.
In another related issue, the finance ministry asked the cabinet for a treasury loan of $5.9 billion to cover the expenses of 2012. But As Safir daily quoted informed sources as saying that some parties have voiced objections, saying “the priority should go to the adoption of a state budget.”
Lebanon hasn’t had any budget since 2005.
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