Cabinet Disapproves Article 16, Will Public Prosecutor Keep his Powers?

Cabinet convened Tuesday at the Grand Serail to discuss 76 items on its agenda, amid reports about a possibility of raising a controversial matter, the Article 16.

Al-Jadeed TV said Cabinet discussed the article and did not approve it, after earlier reports negated that the article will be studied in today’s session.

The article, if approved, removes some important powers from the Public Prosecutor and gives them instead to the minister of justice.

“Any employee or director in a public institution would be referred to the Civil Court of Appeals instead of being referred to the Public Prosecutor and all investigations will be conducted by public prosecutions instead of the Public Prosecutor,” LBCI explained.

Media reports had also linked the subject to the investigation into the Beirut port blast, although the draft law was proposed before the 2020 blast.

It was first proposed in 2018 by Free Patriotic Movement MP Ziad Aswad and was refused twice before. “It will probably be refused by Cabinet,” said lawyer Paul Morcos.

Morcos told LBCI that the draft law will be discussed in Parliament, regardless if approved or not by Cabinet. Parliament has the power to take the final decision, regarding creating or rejecting any law