British Embassy rejects 'baseless accusations' published in al-Akhbar
The British Embassy in Beirut has categorically rejected "the unsubstantiated, erroneous and misleading claims made in a report on UK support for the IMPACT project published by Al Akhbar on 9 January 2023."
"We are and remain proud of our contribution to anti-corruption efforts in Lebanon, including the important work of the IMPACT platform, Central Inspection and Judge George Attieh," the embassy said in a statement.
The statement added that "the British Embassy agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Central Inspection on 20 August 2021 which detailed our Governance, Oversight, & Accountability Project. The Lebanese government mentioned the project in their financial plan issued on 30 April 2020. This project consists of technical assistance to Central Inspection." It said that despite "baseless accusations," the project complies with the highest international standards for data protection and security using industry-leading providers.
"We were disappointed that Al Akhbar’s editors did not contact us for comment ahead of publishing the article. This would have allowed us to correct a number of factual errors and misunderstandings," the British Embassy said, adding that "IMPACT’s work is ground-breaking and the first of its kind in Lebanon."
The statement went on to say that "improving access to e-governance provides much-needed transparency and accountability." "IMPACT’s high profile achievements include enabling the COVID vaccine roll out and the World Bank Social Safety Net."
The British Embassy concluded that the UK is clear that Lebanon’s leaders should focus on establishing a government to deliver meaningful reforms, including to secure an IMF deal, and that this would be "a vital step to alleviate the economic crisis and improve the lives of the Lebanese people."
"We have consistently called out corruption in Lebanon’s governance systems, most recently in an article co-signed by G7 Ambassadors together with the EU Ambassador last month to mark World Anti-Corruption day. We will continue to work with our international partners in support of programmes and institutions committed to combatting corruption and promoting transparency, both of which are fundamental to a better future for Lebanon," the statement said.
11 January 2023, 20:21
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Head of the Central Inspection, George Attia, has spent 3 million dollars in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UK embassy in Lebanon represented by the ambassador Ian Collard, based on exposing the Lebanese citizens and security forces by conveying their cyber data to a British firm.
According to the MOU, the British firm Siren Associates was tasked to implement the Central Inspection’s project of Governance, oversight and accountability in Lebanon over three years. Impact platform concerned with administering with the financial aids distributed to the needy people in Lebanon was controlled by the UK firm.
11 January 2023, 20:21
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The memorandum was not referred to the Lebanese council of ministers, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper, which added that Attia renewed the MOU for one extra year before consulting the prime minister.
Mikati referred Attia’s file to the Court of Accounts in order to address his violations amid reports about the UK ambassador’s interventions in order to prevent Attia’s trial.
Attia Responds
Later on, Judge George Attia issued a statement in which he rejected Al-Akhbar accusations, indicated that, according to the MOU, OGERO servers are concerned with saving the data, adding that the British aid is merely technical.
11 January 2023, 20:24
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NNA - Siren Associates categorically rejects the baseless accusations published by Al Akhbar on 9 January 2023 about our data privacy practices in relation to the IMPACT platform.
We are longstanding champions of data privacy and data security as essential components in any system designed to sustainably bring about effective, real-time oversight of the state. We are proud of our ongoing partnership with Central Inspection to realise this in Lebanon.
Residents using IMPACT to apply for state services can rest assured that their personal data is fully protected. We work under ISO 27001 standards, and the platform’s information security management system meets international best practice.
11 January 2023, 20:25
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Access rights to view IMPACT data were determined by Central Inspection on the basis of Law 81/2018 on Electronic Transactions and Personal Data; Inter-ministerial Decision Number 5 Determining the Mechanism of the Application of Law 230/2021 on the ration card program; and in line with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
To enforce these access rights, a privileged access management system is deployed to automatically monitor, record, and control all activities on the platform so that they may be audited. External auditing is done by the cybersecurity firm Potech Consulting. Automated deployment additionally prevents our developers from accessing IMPACT’s servers or the data held on them.
11 January 2023, 20:25
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All data collected by IMPACT is owned by the Government of Lebanon and is held in Lebanon on servers owned by the state telecoms company Ogero. Due to a lack of domestic server availability at the start of the project, data was initially held – in agreement with the government – on a dedicated, encrypted server installed at Leaseweb, a German provider with the highest security and GDPR standards. The German server was shut down on 25 October 2021 and all data was transferred – again under Potech oversight - to Ogero’s servers.
Our teams, formed of some of the country’s brightest talents, will continue supporting efforts to enhance effective oversight and accountability in Lebanon. In doing so, we will continue to operate transparently and in full coordination with the relevant authorities.
