Aoun Says Cabinet Crisis Will be Resolved, Denies Party Linked to Red Diesel Scandal
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that officials are working on resolving the cabinet crisis, stressing that his party is not linked to the red diesel scandal.
“We are working on legalizing the cabinet’s decree concerning the transportation allowance instead of raising the issue to the Shura Council,” Aoun said during a dinner banquet for his party’s Engineers Association.
A decree on the transportation and education allowances that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, who is part of Aoun’s parliamentary bloc, is refusing to sign is at the center of the cabinet’s deadlock.
Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the ministers of Aoun’s Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc have bickered over the premier’s decision to appoint top civil servants in state posts reserved for Christians without consulting them.
Their dispute worsened last week after Miqati said ministers who don’t want to abide by the cabinet’s decision should resign. But Aoun slammed the premier, saying he should quit.
He stressed that officials are working on “resolving the cabinet crisis.”
Aoun denied that the FPM is linked to the red diesel scandal.
The scandal erupted after complaints that huge amounts of red diesel were sold to oil distribution companies by the Deir Ammar refinery in northern Lebanon on January 18 - the last day of the government subsidy of LL3,000 per jerry can.
The oil companies have reportedly made millions of dollars in profits after selling an alleged 8 million liters at a nonsubsidized price.
“Those who want to express an opinion do not insult others while they don’t have any evidence on what they claim,” he noted.
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is loyal to Aoun, has been accused by the opposition of being involved in the scandal, but according to media reports he has tasked an investigation committee with probing the distribution of red diesel during subsidized and non-subsidized periods since 2004.
Aoun said that rumors are more important than facts in Lebanon “but if people who speak the truth didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be able to continue.”
“You should be aware of the continuous fabrications,” he warned.
He urged officials to “return to their morals to safeguard the nation’s rights.”
“Don’t let corruption become a way of living; don’t turn theft into a virtue. Robbery remains a crime and there’s a punishment against those who commit it,” Aoun said.
The FPM leader remarked that there is no control over the spending of the financial institutions in Lebanon.
“I will not address the grants and money transfers that were stolen and lost, nor the fake companies that are collecting the TVA,” he said.
“They can deprive us from everything but no one can take away our dignity and freedom,” he added.
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18 February 2012, 22:18
Aoun: They can deprive us from everything but no one can take away our dignity and freedom.
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18 February 2012, 22:17
Aoun: Don’t let corruption become a way of living; don’t turn theft into a virtue. Robbery remains a crime and there’s a punishment against those who commit it.
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18 February 2012, 22:16
Aoun: Rumors are more important than facts in Lebanon; however, if people who speak the truth didn't exist we wouldn’t be able to continue.
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18 February 2012, 22:15
Aoun: You should be aware of the continuous fabrications and judge who is lying to you.
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18 February 2012, 22:12
Aoun: We are working on resolving the cabinet crisis.
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18 February 2012, 22:11
Aoun: The transportation allowance decree is illegal. We are working on legalizing the cabinet’s decision on the matter instead of raising the issue to the Shura Council.
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18 February 2012, 22:09
Aoun: I will not address the grants and money transfers that were stolen and lost, nor the fake companies that are collecting the TVA. If the master of the house was a thief, his children will not be different.
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18 February 2012, 22:08
Aoun: There’s no control over the expenses of the financial institutions in Lebanon since 1993, such as the Council of Development and Reconstruction.
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18 February 2012, 22:06
Aoun: Those who want to express an opinion do not insult others while they don’t have any evidence on what they claim, thus contradicting their vows to safeguard the national interests.
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18 February 2012, 22:06
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun during a dinner banquet for the party’s Engineers Association: We should return to our morals to safeguard the nation’s rights.
18 February 2012, 23:07
00
All politicians in Lebanon are corrupt and Aoun included. he wants to amass as much money as he can before he passes away. He's a sick man and knows full well that his time is short as a party and as a person. He's jeolous of his counterpart Saniora who stole all the money in the coffers of the government when he was a PM and wants to do the same while time is on his side. So, I believe Aoun and all the other politicians are corrupt because this is how they live. They fool is with religion and robs us from all material effects.
18 February 2012, 23:26
02
LOL that last quote is from the movie Braveheart. The movie sequal will be him wearing pjs and running to an embassy near you
19 February 2012, 01:53
00
“You should be aware of the continuous fabrications” yup we are aware, we caught you with your fabricated Photoshopped "evidence"
19 February 2012, 01:56
02
“They can deprive us from everything but no one can take away our dignity” you left any dignity you might have once have behind at Baabda palace when you ran away and deserted your army, coward!
19 February 2012, 03:14
12
The whole M8 government is one huge corruption scandal. Aoun is a Judas to the Christians.
Tell your metweili friends to pay their electricity. Then we won't have diesel and electricity scandals.
19 February 2012, 03:28
82
no worry soon you will get madman shirt and one way ticket to solitary cell
19 February 2012, 06:57
11
what has this thug done in the last 7 years?!!! talk, talk and then more talk.....
19 February 2012, 08:00
25
it is a fact the FPM has been caught red handed in the red diesel scandal :)
trying to deny this matter is useless.
thia ia an example of hizbullah managing our government :)
they say they are clean and beyond reproach, and see what they do ...laughable :)
19 February 2012, 08:15
24
Aoun lost his dignity and freedom when he shook hands with the devil...and accepted their funds...Qui Donne Ordonne they say i French.... i don know how he reconciles what he says with himself when he tries to sleep at night....unless he has no conscience at all...
And "Jabalamel" please spear ur you uneducated comments, driven by the propaganda you learned...am a Shiite like you but i use my brain!
19 February 2012, 08:19
01
Ali Baba wore a yellow turban and the forty thieves wore orange ones.
19 February 2012, 10:24
23
Lance corporal Aoun,you have no credibility what's so ever.Your track record is atrocious,you are not a person of your words,you have proven that time and time again.You should be ashamed of yourself.Shame on you and your blind supporters.
20 February 2012, 02:17
40
the filthy zionist media terrorists would like that lebanese media change colors the way zionists want
20 February 2012, 13:03
01
You're an idiot "only M14" accuse ... "when the real culprits are"... please go get an education...
19 February 2012, 16:01
16
let me guess..these accusations are only realistic when claoun makes them right?
19 February 2012, 16:04
15
we're still waiting on the huge amounts of evidence he's been promising for years :)
19 February 2012, 19:40
03
Ya Aoun, what is going on in Syria? I thought there was nothing happening and everything was solved? Now the revolution has reached Damascus. What will Aoun do when Assad falls? Where will his paychecks come from? From Iran probably...
19 February 2012, 20:58
15
I remember when he said that the problem in Syria will be over "next Tuesday" lol
19 February 2012, 21:27
03
Friggin senile old geeser and poor excuse for a human being...
19 February 2012, 23:25
22
Aoun is not even a lance corporal, in fact he should be tried for treason
20 February 2012, 02:20
21
send your incompetent militia to catch him and try for treason.
20 February 2012, 14:35
10
the filthy zionist media slime have usual repeating iran syria iran syria iran syria iran syria iran syria type hallucinations.
