BEIRUT: Lebanon is investigating alleged embezzlement of over $300,000 at its Ukraine embassy, a judicial official told AFP on Monday, as sources say cash-strapped Beirut is trying to cut costs at diplomatic missions.
The probe was launched after financial irregularities came to light in September, the official said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Preliminary investigations showed “an estimated $318,000” had been embezzled from funds including for consular services such as “passport renewal fees,” the official said.
The foreign ministry had apparently failed to notice or investigate the missing funds, according to the official.
A diplomatic source confirmed to AFP that “judicial investigations are underway into a financial matter at the Ukrainian embassy.”
Ambassador Ali Daher — who had been recalled to Beirut pending the completion of the probe — and one of his assistants have been questioned, the judicial official said.
Citing initial investigations, the official said the money had been transferred to a Ukrainian bank account belonging to the embassy employee who claimed the funds had been sent to Beirut.
The assistant has returned to Lebanon but since disappeared, the official said, adding that Lebanon’s top prosecutor has issued a travel ban against the assistant and his Ukrainian wife.
Rent paid for the ambassador’s residence in Kyiv was also under investigation, the official said.
Work has largely been suspended at the Lebanese diplomatic mission in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion last year, the diplomatic source said also on condition on anonymity.
Since late 2019, Lebanon has faced a devastating economic crisis that has plunged more than 80 percent of the population into poverty, according to the United Nations.
The local currency has lost much of its value and public sector employees, whose salaries remained largely stagnant, have had their purchasing power slashed.
Since last year, the foreign ministry has proposed suspending work in 17 foreign missions to help rein in expenditure, according to the diplomatic source, with Kyiv being one of them according to media reports.
While the government has not made a decision on the matter, the source said expenses and employee numbers at missions abroad were already being reduced to help cut costs.
Lebanon probes embezzlement at Ukraine mission: judicial official
https://arab.news/wb9kv
Lebanon probes embezzlement at Ukraine mission: judicial official
- The probe was launched after financial irregularities came to light in September
- Preliminary investigations showed "an estimated $318,000" had been embezzled from funds including for consular services
Egyptian woman faces death threats for filming alleged harasser
- Case revives longstanding national debate in Egypt over harassment and violence against women
- A 2013 UN study found that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women reported experiencing harassment
CAIRO: A young Egyptian woman is facing death threats after posting a video showing the face of a man she says repeatedly harassed her, reviving debate over how victims are treated in the country.
Mariam Shawky, an actress in her twenties, filmed the man aboard a crowded Cairo bus earlier this week, accusing him of stalking and harassing her near her workplace on multiple occasions.
“This time, he followed me on the bus,” Shawky, who has been dubbed “the bus girl” by local media, said in a clip posted on TikTok.
“He kept harassing me,” added the woman, who did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Hoping other passengers would intervene, Shawky instead found herself isolated. The video shows several men at the back of the bus staring at her coldly as she confronts her alleged harasser.
The man mocks her appearance, calls her “trash,” questions her clothing and moves toward her in what appears to be a threatening manner.
No one steps in to help. One male passenger, holding prayer beads, orders her to sit down and be quiet, while another gently restrains the man but does not defend Shawky.
Death threats
As the video spread across social media, the woman received a brief flurry of support, but it was quickly overwhelmed by a torrent of abuse.
Some high-profile public figures fueled the backlash.
Singer Hassan Shakosh suggested she had provoked the situation by wearing a piercing, saying it was “obvious what she was looking for.”
Online, the comments were more extreme. “I’ll be the first to kill you,” one user wrote. “If you were killed, no one would mourn you,” said another.
The case has revived a longstanding national debate in Egypt over harassment and violence against women.
A 2013 UN study found that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women reported experiencing harassment, with more than 80 percent saying they faced it regularly on public transport.
That same year, widespread protests against sexual violence rocked the Egyptian capital.
In 2014, a law criminalizing street harassment was passed. However, progress since then has been limited. Enforcement remains inconsistent and authorities have never released figures on the number of convictions.
Public concern spiked after previous high-profile incidents, including the 2022 killing of university student Nayera Ashraf, stabbed to death by a man whose advances she had rejected.
The perpetrator was executed, yet at the time “some asked for his release,” said prominent Egyptian feminist activist Nadeen Ashraf, whose social-media campaigning helped spark Egypt’s MeToo movement in 2020.
Denials
In the latest case, the authorities moved to act even though the bus company denied any incident had taken place in a statement later reissued by the Ministry of Transport.
The Interior Ministry said that the man seen in the video had been “identified and arrested” the day after the clip went viral.
Confronted with the footage, he denied both the harassment and ever having met the woman before, according to the ministry.
Local media reported he was later released on bail of 1,000 Egyptian pounds (around $20), before being detained again over a pre-existing loan case.
His lawyer has called for a psychiatric evaluation of Shawky, accusing her of damaging Egypt’s reputation.
These images tell “the whole world that there are harassers in Egypt and that Egyptian men encourage harassment, defend it and remain silent,” said lawyer Ali Fayez on Facebook.
Ashraf told AFP that the case revealed above all “a systemic and structural problem.”
She said such incidents were “never taken seriously” and that blame was almost always shifted onto women’s appearance.
“If the woman is veiled, they’ll say her clothes are tight. And if her hair is uncovered, they’ll look at her hair. And even if she wears a niqab, they’ll say she’s wearing makeup.”
“There will always be something.”
