BEIRUT: The Lebanese Parliament voted by a majority of 99 out of 128 members on Wednesday to lift the immunity of MP George Bouchikian, paving the way for a civil prosecution on charges of embezzlement, forgery and extortion.
The charges are based on complaints filed by several factory owners accusing Bouchikian of committing the offences during his tenure as minister of industry in former Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government.
In a separate vote, 88 members approved the referral of former telecommunications ministers Boutros Harb, Nicolas Sehnaoui and Jamal Jarrah to an investigative committee over documented allegations of “mismanaging tens of millions of dollars in building leases and contracting operations.”
Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar submitted a formal request to the General Secretariat of Parliament to lift Bouchikian’s parliamentary immunity.
Hajjar questioned Bouchikian as a witness in late June but the former minister left Lebanon for Canada shortly afterwards, confirmed in a statement given two days ago. He is not expected to return now his parliamentary immunity has been removed.
A judicial source told Arab News: “Bouchikian was questioned following testimony from factory owners who alleged that he, through his office manager and private driver, accepted payments between $50,000 and $70,000 for each work permit application submitted.”
According to the source, the investigating judge at the time “lacked the authority to arrest Bouchikian or confiscate his passport due to his parliamentary immunity. It appears he took advantage of this loophole to leave the country, anticipating that formal charges were imminent.”
The source added: “Four employees have been detained and charged in connection with the case, while Bouchikian’s office manager and driver went into hiding.”
This is the first time parliamentary immunity has been lifted since 2000, when it was stripped from MP Chahe Barsoumian over a corruption case related to oil storage contracts.
The move came during former president Emile Lahoud’s high-profile campaign against corruption and waste. This largely targeted officials from the era of his predecessor, Elias Hrawi, and Rafik Hariri, the late prime minister who led most of Hrawi’s governments.
Barsoumian was eventually acquitted following Hariri’s assassination in 2005 and the election of a new parliament dominated by opponents of the previous establishment. In 2004, a parliamentary investigative committee concluded that “the acts attributed to Barsoumian were not sufficiently proven, and there was no legal basis for indictment or prosecution.”
Meanwhile in its legislative session, the Lebanese parliament summoned former telecommunications ministers Harb, Sehnaoui, and Jarrah. The three appeared in order to submit legal defenses against allegations of administrative and financial irregularities raised by the Financial Judiciary, which had formally requested their referral to the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers. All MPs opposed the treatment of the ministers as a single case.
The case of the three ministers is linked to several issues, including that of the Kassabian building, which was leased by MIC 2. Rental fees for the first four years totaled $10 million, but the company did not benefit from it due to its unsuitability. The state is still paying the rent.
The second case concerns the squandering of millions of dollars by using the revenues of the two mobile phone companies to fund various social activities.
In 2022, a group of MPs filed an indictment against the three ministers in the telecommunications case, referring them to the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.
Harb, a prominent figure in Lebanon’s sovereign bloc, told the parliament his conscience was clear “because I did not breach the law, but rather preserved public funds and stopped waste, and I am fully prepared to cooperate with any investigative committee formed.”
Sehnaoui told MPs: “My conscience is clear, and I was the one who negotiated with the owner of the building that was being rented to unify the workplace of Touch Mobile employees at the lowest price.”
He also claimed Zain International inspected the building and stated it was suitable.
“It was later discovered that it could not support the very heavy equipment on its roof and needed modifications. How could I know that it was not if the international company stated otherwise?” he said.
Jarrah stated: “The Financial Public Prosecutor did not request any documents or papers to prove our statements regarding the funding of social activities. When we left his office, we heard about our accusations in the media.”
