Speaker Nabih Berri picked at the Lebanese banks and what he described as “cheap donations” allocated to buy weapons and assist the Lebanese army, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.
“This is unacceptable. A single investor can alone pay an amount of ten million dollars. This is incomparable to the sacrifices and responsibilities that the army shoulders,” furious Berri told his visitors.
The Speaker added: “Only if each bank had offered a donation of at least one million dollars the amount would have gone beyond 30 millions dollars. Where are they hiding the money?”
“They have allocated wealth worth of billions in the last few months and now they are being stingy,” concluded the Speaker.
Early in November and during a meeting between the Speaker and the Lebanese Banks Association, the banks have approved to make donations to aid the army.
The army had received in October a quantity of ammunition that have been granted to Lebanon by the Belgian authorities.
Britain and Canada signed in March a Memorandum of Understanding to increase assistance to the Lebanese army against rising terrorist threats.
In 2010, Lebanon opened a bank account to receive donations to buy arms for its poorly-equipped army.
