The payment of Lebanon’s share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) funding was made “based on a special decree approved on February 23 by the national-unity government … which gave the Justice Ministry an advance worth around 40 billion LL for this purpose,” Finance Minister Rayya al-Hassan told NOW Lebanon’s correspondent on Monday.
It would be a “great constitutional violation” if the government had smuggled through funding for the STL before the 2010 budget was passed, Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hassan Fadlallah told As-Safir newspaper on Monday.
Minister Hassan expressed surprise at such talk of “smuggling,” saying that there was no secrecy about the payment. Similar decrees granting the Justice Ministry permission for expenditure were approved by past governments in 2007 and 2009, she said.
Those objecting to the payment are contradicting themselves, since they approved the same procedure when granted for other ministries, Hassan added.
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