LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 10/09

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:20-26.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Lebanon" a wrenching look at war-Reuters/September 09/09
Taking Exception: Terrorism Prevents Palestinian State-Washington Post/September 09/09
'Lebanese Madoff' mystery stuns investors-Financial Times/September 09/09
Hezbollah Found to Have Chemical Weapons-theTrumpet.com/September 09/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 09/09
Opposition Submits Demands to Suleiman Amid a Tendency by Hariri to Step Down as PM-designate-Naharnet
March 14 General-Secretariat Visits Hariri in Show of Support, Keeps Meetings Open-Ended-Naharnet
Kenaan Accuses Hariri of Violating Constitutional Norms in Cabinet Lineup-Naharnet
Berri for 'Lowering Tension' to Solve Cabinet Crisis-Naharnet
Grenade Found in Ouzai-Naharnet
Jumblat Urges Leaders to Be Prudent and Make Concessions-Naharnet
Ban Ki-moon Urges Israel to Compensate Lebanon-Naharnet
Fadlallah: Eid al-Fitr is on Sunday September 20-Naharnet
Suleiman to Opposition: Hariri Exercised his Constitutional Right-Naharnet
5 Arrested in Barouk Internet Network Case-Naharnet
Saudi Arabia Advises Lebanese to be 'Patient'-Naharnet
Hezbollah chief denies links to allegedly crooked moneyman-Los Angeles Times
Nasrallah on bankruptcy scandal: We lost no more than $4 million-Ynetnews
Opposition informs Sleiman of cabinet draft rejection-Daily Star
Lebanon's Hariri Proposes Cabinet Line-Up-Voice of America
Nasrallah lashes out at Hariri's government proposal-Daily Star
Mikati: Constitutional text very clear-Daily Star
Arms cache haul was Hizbullah stash-Daily Star
Sex for sale: The dark side of tourism in Lebanon-By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Francophone Games to kick off with a bang in Beirut-Daily Star
Former Nahr al-Bared residents plan protests over reconstruction delays-Daily Star
Egypt insists on Israeli settlement freeze, peace talks-Daily Star
Netanyahu visited Russia to discuss Kremlin arms sales to Iran, Syria-Ha'aretz
Israeli official doubts Syria's clout on Hezbollah-Reuters
Iraqi Government Uses Satellites to Identify Infiltrators From Syria-MEMRI
Hezbollah criticises cabinet plan-BBC News
Syria Blocking Nuclear Probe, Says IAEA Chief-Global Security Newswire
Iran 'offers missiles to Lebanon'-United Press International

Hezbollah Found to Have Chemical Weapons
September 8, 2009
theTrumpet.com
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6510.5003.0.0
Hezbollah has been stockpiling chemical weapons in Southern Lebanon, according to Kutawaiti newspaper al-Seyassah.
The report, published Thursday, cites European intelligence sources working with unifil (United Nation’s Interim Force in Lebanon) claiming that Iran flew chemical and biological warfare equipment to Lebanon via Syria.
German defense sources reported that Hezbollah has received equipment designed to protect against chemical and biological weapons, indicating that they have started or are planning to start working with these weapons.
The al-Seyassah report claimed that the ammunition dump that exploded near Hirbat Salim in Lebanon on July 14 contained chemical weapons. Hezbollah refused to allow the Lebanese army or unifil near the site for 24 hours while they covered their tracks. The report also said that investigators still found traces of chemical weapons in the area.
This does not mean that all of Hezbollah’s weapons have been destroyed though. Al-Seyassah wrote that since December, Hezbollah has built several warehouses containing chemical weapons. These warehouses are spread out around southern Lebanon, with caches on both sides of Litani River, meaning that some of the warehouses are outside the jurisdiction of unifil.
Hezbollah is essentially a proxy of Iran. Iran’s stated aim is to wipe Israel off the map. If this report is true, then a new and deadlier type of terrorism could be coming to Israel.
But Hezbollah does not just operate in the Middle East. It has close links with Latin American drug cartels. Hezbollah could smuggle a chemical weapons across the Mexican border and use them against the US.
Iran is the one controlling Hezbollah’s terrorism, both in the Middle East and overseas. To find out more about what Iran might be planning to do with these chemical weapons, read our booklet The King of the South. •

Hezbollah chief denies links to allegedly crooked moneyman
Finnancial Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/09/lebanon-hezbollah-chief-denies-links-to-allegedly-crooked-moneyman.html
September 8, 2009
It's turning into the biggest financial scandal to hit Lebanon in years, perpetrated by a businessman being dubbed the nation's Bernie Madoff.
Now, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is weighing in on the topic amid allegations that Salah Ezzedine (pictured, at right) was a financier of the Shiite militant group and political organization.
In a speech last night, Nasrallah said the party had nothing to do with Ezzedine, now in jail after allegedly losing $1.5 billion of investors' money in what some are calling a Ponzi scheme.
Ezzedine was a financier and owner of a publishing house close to Hezbollah. But Nasrallah denied allegations that Hezbollah leaders had invested huge unexplained sums with Ezzedine, who reportedly offered returns of between 25% and 55% to investors, luring families.as well as charities to pour cash into his company.
"I tell you that these are false allegations," he said. "These Hezbollah leaders own nothing of the funds that people claim they own."
Jokingly, he added, "I wish they owned those amounts; that would not have upset us."
He said it was up to Lebanon's judiciary to figure out how much money Ezzedine swiped.
But he acknowledged that something awful had taken place.
"What was worse and more dangerous, however, was the attempt to use this tragedy -- and it is really a human and social tragedy -- to tarnish Hezbollah's image, march, leadership, line, and history," he said in televised remarks. "There were many grievances here.... I just wanted to say that this is a tragedy that affected a large number of Lebanese families. It causes pain and sorrow."
But he added that Hezbollah's leadership, organization and leaders have "nothing whatsoever to do with this issue, from beginning to end."
He said Hezbollah would issue a more-detailed account of the the Ezzedine affair shortly.
-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Video: Al Jazeera International broadcast a report about the Salah Ezzedine scandal.

More in: Business, Hezbollah, Lebanon
Opposition informs Sleiman of cabinet draft rejection
Move could prompt Hariri to step down as PM-designate
By Elias Sakr /-Daily Star staff
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
BEIRUT: Opposition groups informed President Michel Sleiman Tuesday of their rejection of the cabinet line-up proposal submitted Monday by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, raising the possibility that the latter would step aside. “We do not consider what happened to be appropriate, either with our democratic values or in how to deal with us. We were demanding from [Hariri] to present a draft that is acceptable to our demands in order to negotiate over it,” said caretaker Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil, a Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) official, after meeting Sleiman at his summer residence in Beiteddine.
“We have informed [the president] of our rejection but at the same time, we have illustrated all the readiness to continue dialogue and negotiation.”
The opposition delegation comprised, in addition to Bassil, the political aide of Hizbullah’s secretary general Hussein Khalil and Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil.
Hariri handed Sleiman his proposal on Monday, a move quickly rejected by the opposition alliance because they had not agreed to the draft.
Political sources said Hariri might react to the opposition’s categoric refusal by stepping down. Should he do so, Sleiman is expected to hold consultations with parliamentarians this week to designate a new premier.
With Hariri holding the majority in Parliament after winning in June 7 polls, he is expected to be reappointed, renewing his mandate for the premiership.
Hariri had been unable to reach a deal with the opposition on the cabinet since he was appointed premier in June.
Some fear the standoff could revive sectarian tensions which have frequently sparked street violence in the past.
“The formation process usually takes place in agreement between the premier-designate and the president but Hariri’s proposal could lead to more tensions in the country at times when the opposition expressed positivity so as to facilitate the process and strengthen national-unity,” Bassil said.
According to the Constitution, the cabinet’s formation decree is signed by the president and the premier-designate.
However, Bassil stressed that the opposition remained open to further discussions and dialogue so as to preserve national-unity to solve the crisis.
Nawaf Moussawi, a lawmaker of the FPM, a Hizbullah ally, said Tuesday the president would not sign the decree of the cabinet’s formation since the proposed line-up would lead to conflict among the Lebanese.
Sleiman’s visitors had quoted him as saying Monday that he would only sign a “well-balanced” government proposal.
Meanwhile, the Future Movement parliamentary bloc voiced support for Hariri’s initiative, while emphasizing the premier-designate’s constitutional prerogatives with regard to the cabinet formation. Following a meeting headed by caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the bloc issued a statement calling on all political parties to respond to Hariri’s initiative without resorting to threats and in accordance with constitutional norms. The statement added that the proposal based on the 15-10-5 formula embraced national unity in accordance with the results of the June 7 parliamentary elections and established the principle of rotating ministerial portfolios among parties. During an iftar later Tuesday, Siniora said Hariri had submitted his proposal “in a bid to reject attempts aimed to intimidate the premier-designate or weaken him.”
Hariri’s proposed cabinet formula also failed to please his parliamentary majority ally the Phalange Party. Phalange leader Amin Gemayel said Hariri’s proposal concerning the cabinet did not match his party’s expectations. “I will conduct the necessary discussions with the premier-designate and the president to reconsider the Phalange party’s share in the next cabinet,” Gemayel said. Media reports published Tuesday said the Phalange had only been assigned the Tourism Ministry while the Lebanese Forces (LF) had received the Social Affairs and Industry ministries. A source close to the LF told the state-run National News Agency said on Tuesday that the party would hold a meeting to discuss its share in the government, adding that if the situation on both the domestic and foreign level were not “dangerous, the LF would have taken another stance.” Hariri’s cabinet proposal is based on the 15-10-5 formula.
The 15-10-5 cabinet structure grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and Sleiman five seats, which guarantees him the tipping vote while both the March 14 and the opposition are respectively denied absolute majority or veto power. The parliamentary majority had rejected on several occasions the nomination of ministerial candidates who were defeated in the June 7 parliamentary polls. Bassil, who ran for one of two seats in his hometown of Batroun, lost to March 14 MPs; his father-in-law FPM leader MP Michel Aoun insists that the caretaker minister be reappointed for a second term at the Telecommunications Ministry. Aoun also wants to be assigned a “sovereign” portfolio.
Sovereign portfolios include the Defense, Interior, Finance and Foreign ministries.
Media reports said that Hariri assigned the FPM the Labor, Higher Education, and Public Works and Transportation ministries along with two state ministries.
Media leaks added that the Telecommunications Ministry along with the Ministry of the Displaced was assigned to the Progressive Socialist Party, while the Future Movement retained the Finance and Economy portfolios. Tackling Hariri’s refusal to take into account Aoun’s demands, FPM’s caretaker Social Works Minister Mario Aoun said the premier-designate’s proposal aimed to challenge the FPM’s right to nominate his ministers. Hizbullah’s number two Sheikh Naim Qassem called Tuesday on politicians to support consensus rather than adopt “a confrontational approach.” FPM Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said on Tuesday that Hariri’s proposal overlooked constitutional norms “since it denied the president the role to have a say in cabinet formation.” Kanaan also warned against attempts to instigate conflict between the opposition and the president. Separately, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams expressed concerns, following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri Monday, that no agreement over the cabinet had been reached more than 10 weeks after the designation of Hariri as premier-designate and despite intense efforts to do so. “I call on all Lebanese to continue to work toward the goal of a unity government. Democracy needs compromise. Lebanon must not return to the old days of polarization and crisis,” Williams said. – With Reuters

Arms cache haul was Hizbullah stash
Daily Star staff/Wednesday, September 09, 2009/BEIRUT: Investigations into an alleged Fatah al-Islam militant revealed that the man arrested had no connection with the group, a well-informed security source told The Daily Star Tuesday. Earlier this week, police raided the house of Ahmad Shamaa in Jiyyeh, suspecting he had engaged in fighting with Internal Security Forces in the northern port city of Tripoli in 2007. Police seized 40 Kalashnikov rifles, two M-16s, four handguns and B-7 rocket launchers from Shamaa’s house. Security sources said Monday the weapons were stolen from a Hizbullah arms cache in the southern town of Harouf, near Nabatieh. The serial numbers of weapons stolen from the Hizbullah arms cache matched those on weapons found inside Shamaa’s home. – The Daily Star

Mikati: Constitutional text very clear
Daily Star staff/Wednesday, September 09, 2009
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday he “closely” followed reactions to the cabinet proposal, which Premier-designate Saad Hariri presented to President Michel Sleiman. “We could not help but notice that some people considered the initiative of the premier-designate as a violation of the Constitution and democratic principles,” Mikati said. He stressed that it was the right of any political side to express its views on all pending matters, including the new cabinet formation. “But we believe that it is inappropriate and unacceptable that political differences affect the Constitution and bypass the powers of the premier–designate,” Mikati said. He added that the constitutional texts were “very clear and there is no room for any interpretation.” – The Daily Star

Nasrallah lashes out at Hariri's government proposal
Hizbullah leader says line-up will only complicate situation
Daily Star staff/Wednesday, September 09, 2009
BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah slammed Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri for proposing a Cabinet line-up that he says will only complicate the situation in Lebanon. Hariri submitted a 30-seat coalition cabinet to President Michel Sleiman Monday, more than three months after his alliance won a general election, but the Shiite Hizbullah-led opposition rejected the move.
“I do not believe this way of doing things will lift Lebanon from the crisis over the formation of the new government,” Nasrallah said in a closed televised speech to women organsations the same day. The speech was emailed to the media just before midnight on Monday. “It will make the problem more complicated,” he said.
The head of March 8 faction Hizbullah said the minority opposition would “stand up to this inadequate measure, and in complete solidarity.”
Nasrallah said each parliamentary bloc has the right to name its ministers and the cabinet portfolios it wants.
He reiterated that there was no law that prevents giving Cabinet seats to candidates who had lost the polls, in reference to the majority’s rejection to reappoint Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil for a second term. “Doesn’t such a rejection obstruct the process of the formation of a Lebanese government?” Nasrallah asked.
Also on Monday, Nasrallah denied any involvement of his party in the dealings of a bankrupt Lebanese businessman who is suspected of depriving investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Lebanese financier, Salah Ezzedine, is suspected of creating a Ponzi scheme that promised investors up to 40 percent returns a year – a case that has drawn comparisons in Lebanon with that of Bernard Madoff. He turned himself in to Lebanese authorities in August after declaring himself bankrupt and is now in custody and being investigated.
“Neither Hizbullah, nor its leadership, nor its members have any link to this matter,” Nasrallah said. “Leaders [of Hizbullah] do not have any of the alleged funds.” Ezzedine, a wealthy businessman from a town near the southern city of Tyre, is a prominent financier particularly among Shiite circles in Lebanon. He is the owner of Dar Al-Hadi Publishing House – one of Lebanon’s most prominent publishing houses of religious Shiite books which also prints books written by Hizbullah officials – and Al-Hadi TV for children.
Recent media reports in Lebanon have alleged that Hizbullah has had business dealings with Ezzedine, somewhat shaking Hizbullah’s image as an austere resistance movement and provoking rare criticism by journalists known to be close to the group. One of them, Ibrahim al-Amin, wrote in Al-Akhbar daily on Saturday that most of the people who deposited money with Ezzedine were members of Hizbullah ‘s families or supporters. He added that the case is an “alarm bell” because Hizbullah’s supporters and members are known to have long lived a simple and religious life but were starting to want more money than they earn. Sateh Noureddine, managing editor of the Lebanese As-Safir daily, which is close to Hizbullah, wrote Monday that “Hizbullah is not the first and will not be the last revolutionary movement that gets corrupted with money.” – The Daily Star, with AP and AFP

Sex for sale:The dark side of tourism in Lebanon
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Rana Moussaoui
Agence France Presse
BEIRUT: To Kamal, it’s a job like any other: “I send clients at luxury hotels photo albums of the girls. It’s like selling goods.” Kamal, whose name has been changed at his request, is a 40-year-old pimp based just outside of Beirut, where prostitution thrives, though illegal, in hotels, nightclubs, brothels, private homes, chalets and even on highways. “I inherited the trade from my father,” he told AFP. “To me, it’s just a regular job.” “Demand soars in the summer season, so we help each other out across the networks. They pass girls over to us when we need them and vice versa,” Kamal explained. Kamal owns a club in a coastal city north of Beirut which has a reputation as a prostitution hub. In this seaside city, so-called super nightclubs employ exclusively foreign women, mainly from eastern Europe, who travel to Lebanon on “artists’ visas.” They start off as dancers and often turn to – or are forced into – prostitution after hours. But Kamal says he prefers employing Lebanese and Syrian women, who are “in great demand among Arabs.”
“We charge a minimum of $120 per hour, but the price can climb to over $400,” he said. “Gulf clients pay up without asking about the price, while the Lebanese haggle to the penny.”
For a mere $20, a receptionist at a luxury hotel provides a selection of pictures to a potential client who can then “choose a blonde, a brunette, one woman or three,” said Kamal.
And in a country where sex before marriage is still frowned upon and where a young couple kissing in the street may be reprimanded by police, female sex workers – some of whom are still legally minors – can sometimes be seen on the hunt for wealthy clients, particularly men from the oil-rich Gulf seeking an outlet in a country dubbed the most liberal in the Arab world.
The business is also a hit with local clientele.
“I have friends who do not miss Mass on Sunday, but visit prostitutes twice a week because it’s fashionable,” said Sami, a Lebanese expatriate in Beirut for the summer. “It’s frustrating and it’s a sham.” “This ‘profession’ brings in thousands of dollars to those involved,” said Major Elie Asmar, who heads the police’s protection of morals department. “Prostitution thrives because of the economic crisis in the country.”
Some of the women interviewed by AFP said they were drawn to the practice largely for economic reasons. “I was attracted by easy money. It was too late by the time I felt regret,” said Hanin, a 24-year-old Lebanese sex worker in a bar just outside Beirut. “My clients are disgusting, but I make $100 per hour,” said Nadia, 26.
Nada, a voluptuous 21-year-old in high heels and a plunging neckline, turned to sex work at the age of 17. “I obey my boss because he beats me,” she said, before bursting into tears and turning away. The circles most difficult to crack are those in which prostitution is a family affair, says Asmar. The story of 18-year-old Soha, a Syrian working in Lebanon, is a case in point: her pimp is her husband. “He brought the clients home,” she told AFP. “The first client raped me. I tried to run away in vain.”
Like many girls, she says she is now resigned because of financial need, abuse and fear of what people will say. “We once arrested a man who ‘sold’ his wife in his own house,” Asmar told AFP. “In another case, we found a husband who admitted he earned $7,000 in a week of ‘work.’” Asmar notes that prostitution remains illegal in Lebanon and if indicted, those involved are liable to two years’ imprisonment. Punishment for the girls involved, however, can exact an even higher price than this, Kamal says.
“There are red lines that should not be crossed,” he said. “If a girl moves to another network without our consent, it’s a declaration of war and there will be blood.”

Lebanese Madoff’ mystery stuns investors
By Ferry Biedermann, Toura, South Lebanon
September 9 2009
Financial Times
The leisurely chit-chat over sweet tea that usually follows the iftar, the breaking of the fast every evening during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has been replaced by heated discussions at the home of the mayor of Toura, a hilltop village in south Lebanon.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Lebanon spoilers must end political paralysis - Aug-31Beirut steps out of war zone into tourist trap - Aug-24Politics clouds state sell-offs in Lebanon - Aug-17Lebanon leader inherits mixed legacy - Jul-01Lebanon’s Hariri faces tough team building - Jun-29Hariri seeks to defuse Hizbollah dispute - Jun-09The topic of conversation is the spectacular bankruptcy and detention of a prominent businessman from the area, who is close to Hizbollah, the powerful Shia militant movement.
Salah Ezzedine, who has been dubbed “the Lebanese Madoff” by the country’s media after Bernie Madoff, the convicted US fraudster, may have lost hundreds of millions of dollars of his investors’ money.
The prosecutor, Said Mirza, said: “The case involves hundreds of millions of dollars and several countries”.
Like countless others among the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon and in the Gulf, many people in Toura have lost their life savings.
“It is a catastrophe for us – not only for us, but for all the people in the south,” says Mohammed Hassan Duheini, the village mayor.
The Shia community, poor and long ignored by the Lebanese government, has been stunned by the news. The financial scandal also threatens to embarrass Hizbollah, which is hailed by much of the Arab world as a resistance movement against Israel and prides itself on its austere religious image, but which is seen by Washington as a terrorist group.
Path to ruin
Salah Ezzedine was born in the southern Lebanese village of Maaroub near the port city of Tyre, about 50 years ago.
He lived in Beirut’s southern suburbs in the 1980s where several contemporaries say he was involved with a Shia Islamic group close to Iran, which was one of the precursors to Hizbollah. He is said to have been an ideologue rather than a politician or fighter.
He guided pilgrims to Mecca and Medina in the mid-1980s, and set up the Bab el-Salam travel agency for the Hajj pilgrimage. In the 1990s he started Beirut’s Dar al-Hadi publishing house, which has been accused of being a propaganda arm of Hizbollah. He was taken into custody in the past 10 days after, according to local media, giving himself up and filing for bankruptcy.
Beyond acknowledging that Mr Ezzedine has declared himself bankrupt, and then been taken into custody the Lebanese authorities have not given any details on the case during the past 10 days. It is unclear if they are investigating a Ponzi scheme. Mr Ezzedine has not been charged and the Beirut Bar Association could not even yet say who his lawyer is in this case.
A central bank official, however, has estimated that some $400m (€275m, £242m) of invested capital could be missing.
Investors say they were lured by the promise of improbably high returns. They mention 20, 30 and even 60 per cent annual profits that Mr Ezzedine’s middlemen said were “guaranteed”. In order to conform to Islamic law, such proceeds were described as profits from projects rather than interest.
Half of the missing capital is from investors in the Gulf and the other half from Lebanon, according to the central bank official. In the Gulf, it seems that Qatar and its small Shia community have been particularly hard hit. Qatari banking insiders say the loss amounts to $180m, although it is not clear yet whether that includes anticipated profits.
Mr Ezzedine hails from Maaroub, a neighbouring village to Toura, and was trusted partly because he was close to Hizbollah, investors say. Even now, several of those affected say they will hold off on legal action because they hope Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader, will compensate them.
The Lebanese media have reported that senior Hizbollah figures themselves lost money in Mr Ezzedine’s schemes but some of them denied this. Mr Nasrallah denied on Tuesday that senior leaders or the movement itself had any connection to the case, according to Al-Manar, Hizbollah’s television station.
Much of the money came from small Shia investors who bundled together remittances from relatives overseas and had a representative invest for them. Mr Duheini estimates that between 200 and 250 people invested $10m to $15m with Mr Ezzedine in Toura alone.
He says many smaller investorsmortgaged their homes or businesses to invest. “The problem will really hit when the banks start calling in these loans,” he predicts.
An investor in Maaroub said his grandmother mortgaged her bakery to invest $25,000 with Mr Ezzedine. “We saw what other people were making and thought that it would be stealing from ourselves if we didn’t do it,” he said.
One of the middlemen in Maaroub, Youssef Faour, was known as Mr Ezzedine’s representative for the south, say the investors in Toura. One man says he invested $485,000 with Mr Faour on August 22, shortly before he was taken into custody.
Mr Faour’s sister Dalal, who owns a clothing shop in Maaroub, denies any wrongdoing on his part. “We are victims like everybody else. We sold land in Beirut in order to invest.”
For the large sums, Mr Faour gave cheques equal to the amounts invested as collateral. They were issued in the name of the Société Trans-Golf pour le Commerce et l’Industrie.
The business was registered in Baabda, next to Beirut, and owned by Mr Ezzedine. It has been declared bankrupt: people who tried to cash the cheques last month discovered that the account was empty.
Sometimes, investors were told that their money would be invested in commodities such as oil. But in many cases, they say, no specific investments were mentioned and receipts were optional.
One investor in Toura showed the Financial To,es a simple printed sheet of paper purported to be a receipt for $445,000, which he and a group of friends had invested with one of Mr Ezzedine’s middlemen. On the printout, dated October 31 2008, the company that accepted the money is named as East Line, and the general director Mr Ezzedine.
East Line appears to be one of the investment vehicles that Mr Ezzedine used. In June 2008, Yahya Jammeh, the president of the Gambia, issued a statement saying that he had received a cheque for $200,000 for “royalties paid to the Gambian government by Salah Ezzedine of East Line Company, for 10,000 tonnes of sand minerals exported from the Gambia”.
Many who invested with Mr Ezzedine still refuse to believe that he defrauded them. They point to his legitimate business ventures and say these fell victim to the financial crisis.
But one older man in Toura, who says he invested $50,000, rails at Mr Ezzedine’s defenders: “They are all thieves. I don’t care what anybody says.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.