Anti-corruption in light of economic crisis & Covid-19 pandemic in Lebanon
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Zeina Obeid
Obeid Law Firm, Beirut
zeina@obeidlawfirm.com
Dima Chehade
Obeid Law Firm, Beirut
d.chehade@obeidlawfirm.com
Unprecedented nationwide protests have sparked in Lebanon since October 2019 in response to rapidly deteriorating standards of living, increased costs of living, and inequality prevalent in the country. Protesters have long perceived the rampant corruption as an increasing problem in Lebanon, which permeates all levels of society and covers almost all sectors of the economy. The country’s corruption challenges include clientelism and collusion between the private and public sectors. This is often accompanied by the lack of independent judicial bodies. Nonetheless, efforts are being pursued by the Lebanese Parliament to ensure the independence of the judiciary. As such, a draft law on the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary is currently under assessment, and will soon be submitted to a vote of parliament.[1]
In recent years, efforts have been made to strengthen anti-corruption safeguards through the enactment of several laws. Lebanon has ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) since 2008,[2] and the multilateral treaty on ‘the Agreement for the Establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Academy as an International Organization’.[3] Subsequently, Lebanon has enacted numerous legislative measures to tackle corruption. The Lebanese Parliament has adopted inter alia anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing law in 2015,[4] right to access information law in 2017,[5] law on the protection of whistleblowers in 2018,[6] and a law aimed at strengthening transparency in the petroleum sector in 2018.[7]
Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Lebanon has enacted a law in the fight against corruption in the public sector. This new law has established a National Commission to fight corruption.[8] It is a welcome development for setting out a surveillance mechanism and an accountability framework with the expectation to have corruption investigations pursued to a conclusive end.
In addition to these efforts made in the fight against corruption, the Lebanese Ministry of Justice issued guidelines on the cooperation between countries to join forces against corruption and assist in recovering proceeds of corruption.[9] The Ministry of Justice also announced that a comprehensive draft law on asset recovery is being prepared. These actions have the aim of improving Lebanon's current ranking by the Transparency International Corruption Perception index (137th out of 180 countries, with an index of corruption 28/100 in 2019), and regaining national and international confidence, which is needed to stabilise Lebanon's current economic crisis.
In a time of Covid-19, the risk of corruption could rise significantly due to urgent procurement of medical supplies. Other forms of corruption could include inter alia bribery in medical-related services, fraud in counterfeit medical products, the creation of fake labels and the increase in product prices. In response to the current pandemic, the Lebanese government has implemented specific measures to respond to the current extraordinary circumstances. To this end, it has issued two circulars to expedite and facilitate the process of receipts of donations made to the Lebanese Republic. The Ministry of Finance has also issued an implementing circular in this respect.[10]
It is essential that anti-corruption measures and systems of accountability are deployed to ensure that such aids and donations are fairly distributed. It is worth mentioning that the Lebanese Army has been responsible for the distribution of social aids to citizens. However, the initial date of distribution was rescheduled due to inaccurate data provided to the Army concerning which social aids were to be distributed. Such an incident serves as an example of the risk of corruption that could rise amid the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. More recently, investigations have taken place against the Director-General of Petroleum at the Ministry of Energy and Water and the head of the oil installations, amongst others. These individuals are suspects of bribery and fuel fraud.
In light of the above, measures should be implemented to ensure that persons in power do not take personal advantage of any measures taken in response to the economic or public health crises. The country should make best efforts to ensure that decisions are transparent, and subject to supervision and accountability. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen how long it will take the National Commission to commence work and effectively fight corruption.[11]
Notes
[1] Legal Agenda https://legal-agenda.com/article.php?id=6720
[2] The Lebanese Parliament has enacted Law 33/2008 ratifying the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). It entered into force few months later, on 22 April 2009, although a reservation was made as Lebanon stated that it will not be bound by paragraph 2 of Article 66.
[3] The Agreement for the Establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Academy as an International Organization was adopted by virtue of Law 27 dated 24 November 2015.
[4] Law 318/2001 amended by Law 33/2015 relating to the fight against money-laundering and terrorist financing, also include corruption offences.
[5] Law 28/2017.
[6] Law 83/2018.
[7] Law 84/2018.
[8] Law No. 175, dated 8 May 2020, entered into force on 14 May 2020. The National Commission to fight corruption is vested with powers to fight corruption in Lebanon, including investigating corruption crimes before submitting them for prosecution. The Commission is also authorised to request taking precautionary measures against indicted officials (such as, impose travel restrictions, order to freeze of assets, etc). The Commission is tasked to act as an advisory and education body, and oversee the application of current and future anti-corruption laws. However, the actual establishment of the Agency is pending the assignment of its members by a Decree issued by the Council of Ministers.
[9] The Ministry of Justice issued the guidelines on 18 May 2020; see www.justice.gov.lb/index.php/news-details/1398/2.
[10] The first circular, No 95/M dated 19 March 2020 issued by the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, has laid out the mechanism for receiving donations aimed at assisting with the fight against the Covid-19 virus. The second circular, No 97/M dated 20 March 2020,[20] issued by the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers provided that a bank account was opened to receive social monetary aid which will be reserved to support the families affected by the measures taken to fight Covid-19. The third circular, dated 31 March 2020, issued by the Ministry of Finance, implemented the circulars issued by the Council of Ministers and affirmed the bank accounts to which monetary donations should be transferred.
[11] The Council of Ministers has to issue a decree for the assignment of the members of the Agency. Following their assignment, the members will have a maximum period of three months to prepare the Agency’s internal regulations, as per Article 9 of Law 175/2020.
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