Public Actions

The Finance and Budget Parliamentary Commission approved two anti-corruption draft laws that were dismissed during Parliament’s legislative session last week. The commission’s chair Ibrahim Kanaan announced that the commission endorsed a draft law against illicit enrichment and a draft law on lifting banking secrecy. He said the commission discussed seven other draft anti-corruption laws, in addition to one that would create a special tribunal for financial crimes.

The banking secrecy law would see banking secrecy provisions lifted for any person employed by the state, in addition to those engaged by the state in public-private-partnerships, and their relatives and advisers, Kanaan said.

He said the commission endorsed the draft law against illicit enrichment with some modifications, including a “model financial disclosure statement for any public sector employee or official.”

“The only way to identify and recover the looted funds is through a law against illicit enrichment ... With the adoption of the illicit enrichment law we will be able to tell citizens that there is a legal mechanism to know the perpetrators of crimes and prosecute them,” MP Paula Yacoubian said in a televised statement Thursday.

Kanaan said that the draft law on recovering looted funds would be discussed next week with the participation of Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm.