Saniora Seeks to Defend HRC, Triggers "Scandal"

Source: al-Akhbar, 19-12-2008
Because the "attacks" against the Higher Relief Committee (HRC) were "unfair and unfounded" in his view, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora devoted his whole speech in Parliament on Thursday to defend himself and his government against accusations of spending compensations following the "Israeli" July war against Lebanon.
Saniora actually said that financial grants coming from Arab states have been deposited into credit accounts at the Central Bank. Despite the donations, "this was not enough for covering all needs and expenses resulting from the "Israeli" aggression," he told MPs.
According to figures, the value of compensation reached approximately 1.7 billion dollars and according to Saniora only 1.2 billion dollars have been donated to Lebanon. The PM spoke of "a dilemma due to the shortage of funding of the whole reconstruction process. Since parliament was closed, the government had to borrow funds from the Central Bank by partly mortgaging the Saudi funds."
"What is strange is that despite all this government effort some continue to ignore these facts and issue harmful accusations," Saniora added.
However, what is really strange, according to Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, was that Saniora can announce such a "scandal" without observing any reaction from MPs "who seemed not to have understood what he actually said." The Lebanese daily explained that, according to the laws, the Central Bank is not allowed to give such loans to the government with a foreign guarantee.
Commenting on Saniora's stances, member of Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Hassan Fadlallah said that his bloc would discuss seriously the issue before declaring any specific position. "What's certain is that there is a Saudi donation to rebuild 220 villages," he told Al-Akhbar, stressing that the southern people should receive the money allotted to them.
Moreover, Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc MP Ali Hassan Khalil said that he doubts all what Saniora has actually said. "The Saudi donation is available as a current account in the Central bank to cover all compensations," he said, wondering how it would be possible to borrow on such account.
MP Ibrahim Kanaan of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc told Ad-Diyar that PM Saniora did not answer so much as a single serious question addressed to him during the session.
Kanaan went on to say: "There is no control and no spending mechanism ruling the Higher Relief Council funds? How then can this organism be in financial deficit without having PM Saniora initiate an inquiry into the causes?" Kanaan called for initiating a financial investigation into the council's funds and how they are spent.