A scandal in a governmental decree explained

Minister of Finance Mohammad Safadi discussed on Wednesday during the Cabinet's meeting a scandal related to a former minister. The former minister allegedly issued a decree excluding EDL (Electricite du Liban) from paying VAT taxes on imported fuel to generate electricity. This decree led to unlawfully exempting the institution from approximately 300 Billion LBP.    

Upon inspection it was revealed however that the allegations were false, and that no exemptions had taken place on the part of fuel import.     

Within this framework, the Minister of Finance Jihad Azour mentioned to LBCI that there is no scandal is at hand, assuring that no minister can issue such a decree due to its illegality.       

"Assuming that a minister issued such a decree, the current Finance Minister has to transfer the matter to the Central Inspection Board," Azour added considering that it is MP Safadi's duty to check his ministry's management which is responsible for agreeing on such decrees.    He considered that if the matter were to be true, it would not affect public finance knowing that the government gives the company a financial advance payment.        

Sources at the EDL reported to LBCI that the EDL is unaware of the alleged amnesty and has been paying VAT taxes up to date, pointing out that about 200 billion LBP have accumulated in tax   due to the troubled status of the company.    

Sources concluded that the company is successively paying these taxes, but has in turn been exempted of $50 Billion to cover accumulated tariffs.


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above.