Fadlallah: Anti-Corruption War Harder than War against Israel

MP Hasan Fadlallah of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Friday said the fight against corruption in Lebanon is more difficult than the war with Israel.

“We had been aware of the difficulty of the war against corruption from the very beginning, seeing as it is harder than the war against the Israeli enemy,” Fadlallah said at a press conference aimed at explaining Hizbullah's “efforts to fight corruption.”

“We are confident that we will find brave judges who honor their oath and are willing to fight the war against corruption. We were before two choices – leaving the country under the mercy of corruption or shouldering the responsibility and engaging in the war through the available legal means. We decided to fight this war through the law and state institutions, because this is the only available path,” the MP explained.

“We started a legislative workshop prior to the government's formation and we presented draft laws some of which were passed in parliament,” he added.

Calling for “a real uprising against corrupts in the judicial body and against any political interference,” Fadlallah called for “improving the judiciary and its independence.”

He noted that had a draft law for lifting immunities been approved in the latest legislative session, “former ministers would have been appearing before examining magistrates today.”

And urging the Higher Judicial Council to look into all the submitted corruption files, the lawmaker said he is committed to “refraining from defaming anyone” against whom he has taken action before the judiciary.

“Their names are now with the judiciary and it is up to it to issue verdicts against the corrupts,” he added.

Moreover, Fadlallah said the government must “set a timeframe for its financial inspection that is related to the central bank,” while calling on the judiciary to “play its complete role in the electricity file.”

He added that his party played a role in the lawsuits that have been filed against 10 oil companies over alleged embezzlement, in putting an end to $300 million in annual losses from illegal internet services and in halting $100 million in annual losses from the waste of public funds at the country's two mobile network operators.

“The parties responsible for the corruption in the telecommunications sector are the ministry, the two mobile network operators and private internet companies,” he said.