Belgian federal deputy Malik Ben Achour spoke to Belgian parliamentarians on the precarious situation in Lebanon. The Belgian deputy particularly highlighted the refusal of Lebanon Central Bank to answer the forensic audit’s questions. Mr. Ben Achour thus called on the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy, Meryame Kitir, and insisted on Belgium’s role to lobby, along with Europe, on the governor of Lebanon Central Bank Riad Salameh in order to submit to the audit and allow the release of international aid.
The minister answered him first by stressing that “The political class in place in Lebanon, dominated by the Shiite Hezbollah party, is very wary of external interference and considers the IMF as a harmful influence of the West, that it wants to avoid. ” And the Belgian minister recalled the conditions of transparency demanded by the IMF, and the French road-map after the disaster in the port of Beirut, to obtain the support of Cèdre Conference countries. Belgium has supported Lebanon to the tune of 9.5 million euros in 2020, has also underlined Ms. Kitir.
In his right of reply to the minister, MP Ben Achour insisted on the central role that Lebanon Central Bank plays in corruption. “The heart of the local reactor, the institution which is the focal point of all corruption, is Lebanon Central Bank. This has been led for several decades by Riad Salameh, who is neither a friend of Hezbollah nor of President Aoun .
”nuanced Mr. Ben Achour.
Source Libnanews Translated by odiaspora.org