Qobeissi Withdraws Complaint against ABL Head Bassil

AMAL MP Hani Qobeissi announced on Monday that he has withdrawn his complaint against head of the Association of Banks in Lebanon Francois Bassil.

He told MTV: “I decided to withdraw my complaint after Bassil declared that he respects parliament and its lawmakers.”

He commended Bassil for stressing his support for the “wasted rights” of employees and their demands for the approval of the new wage scale draft-law.

Qobeissi, who is loyal to Speaker Nabih Berri, had initially filed defamation charges against Bassil for accusing lawmakers of theft and embezzlement of public funds.

Bassil gave his testimony in the case last week.

“If the parliament wants to endorse the new pay hike then reforms should be introduced not additional taxes imposed” to cover the expenses, Bassil pointed out.

In April, Bassil refused the tax measures proposed by the joint parliamentary committees on the banks to fund the new wage scale, saying: “We should revolt against all politicians who bankrupted the country.”

The joint parliamentary committees had agreed to raise the 5 percent tax on deposit interest revenue to 7 percent to cover for the new wage scale expenses.

Bassil's comments enraged Berri, who demanded him to apologize, prompting MP Qobeissi to file a complaint against the ABL chief.

The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.

M.T.

G.K.