Bassil Purportedly Refused to Give Security Services Access to Data on Criminal Suspects
Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil has reportedly refused to give security services access to data on telephone numbers of those suspected of involvement in the fatal ambush of army troops in east Lebanon”s Bekaa Valley or of concealing information about them.
The daily Ad Diyar on Thursday said security services had in the past 48 hours filed a request to Bassil for access to "limited and specific names and telephone numbers of the criminals (behind the army attack) and those who cooperate with them."
Bassil "refused to give permission to continue to track down telephone call traffic of those (suspects) despite interference by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud," Ad Diyar quoted a well-informed source as saying.
An Nahar newspaper for its part quoted ministerial sources from the ruling March 14 coalition as saying that 48 hours after security services filed the request for data on the suspects, there was no response from Bassil.
Bassil denied the accusations, saying "Security services are accusing me of withholding information on the Bekaa ambush to justify their failure. I was never late in providing any info."
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, meanwhile, said the telecommunications ministry cannot make a decision to withhold data over the attack on the army patrol.