According to experts and well-informed sources on the trial session of Michel Murr and Studio Vision on charges of conducting illegitimate international communications and waste of public funds, the defense arguments seemed weak and marked by major gaps.
Murr has been accused by the Lebanese state of wasting USD 60 million, an amount that was supposed to be delivered to the state’s treasury. In accordance with the lawsuit filed against Murr, Studio Vision had purchased E1 as well as a bundle of channels from the state, allowing it to be connected to the Lebanese landline network, opening at the same time a gate to receive international calls via internet from abroad.
Therefore, Studio Vision had been receiving these illegitimate international calls and transferring them to the fixed network lines. Accordingly, Studio Vision had been paying the phone bill as if the calls were made locally on the landline network.
On the basis of what has been presented in the lawsuit and during the trial session, the Studio Vision phone numbers were found to have been conducting thousands of phone calls on a daily basis, and over the span of two years, many hospitals, hotels, companies and embassies had received thousands of calls from the said company.
The justification of Michel Murr for these calls did not convince the experts.
For more details, watch the full report in the video above