It has been deemed necessary for the State Minister for Combating Corruption, Nicolas Tueni to clarify the following:
Minister Tueni met Friday the 7th of April 2017, after the parliamentary meeting, with his excellence the Italian ambassador to Lebanon Mr. Massimo Marotti and discussed with him what some news sources had claimed and that had been brought up at the parliamentary meeting by MP Boutros Harb, who stated that someone had offered the politicians a bribe to facilitate the acquisition of contracts.
The ambassador has assured us that the Italian corporation named has no knowledge of the accusations and hearsay concerning that subject, with the knowledge that it is a well-known company and one that adheres to the Italian, European, International and Lebanese laws and treaties of transparency and fight against corruption.
In addition Minister Tueni insisted upon the Italian ambassador to provide any further information concerning this issue in an effort to prevent anyone from taking advantage of this situation in a political, factional or personal way concerning such a delicate situation especially that Lebanon is on the verge of launching a round of bidding for permits for exploration and drilling.
This statement has been issued for the purpose of clarification and in order to prevent any misinformation.
