Former Displaced Fund Chief Charged with Embezzlement

The financial public prosecutor on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Fadi Aramouni, the former head of the Central Fund for the Displaced, on charges of embezzling public funds.

Aramouni was referred to Beirut First Investigative Judge Ghassan Ouweidat, according to state-run National News Agency.

The financial public prosecution had launched a probe on February 27 into a case of squandering and embezzling funds belonging to the CFD, based on a report prepared by the Central Inspection Bureau, which exposed unwarranted spending in projects executed by the Fund in several regions.

According to the report, a specified number of contractors were tasked with implementing the projects.

MTV has published excerpts of the report, revealing that Aramouni had spent more than 44 billion Lebanese pounds on infrastructure projects between June 13, 2011 and December 10, 2013. The projects were outsourced and executed under the unilateral supervision of the fund chief, who did not report to the fund's authority, the Ministry of the Displaced or the premiership.

The report said Aramouni partitioned the deals to keep each under the LBP 500 million allowed ceiling in a bid to “evade accountability.”

It was also revealed that Aramouni had simultaneously outsourced several projects to the same contractor and carried out works in villages that did not witness any displacement.

He was also accused of spending hefty sums of money under the “various expenses” label with the aim of granting “gifts” to individuals not employed by the Fund.

Y.R.