US sanctions, kidnappings, theft of public money, illegal employment… A series of accusations against the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gibran Bassil and his close associates in the recent period, the most recent of which was the charge of arms smuggling from the United States a few days ago.

A group of people recruited by Bassil with one goal… “to get money”, whatever the source or method.

We start with Danny Khoury, the owner of the Khoury Contracting Company, the contractor of the Bisri Dam, and he has a strong relationship with Representative Gibran Bassil.
His company won a $142 million contract to landfill waste at the Bourj Hammoud landfill. Khoury is also the main contractor for the Beqaata Canaan dam project.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on him in 2021 for his involvement in corruption cases, and the same ministry had imposed penalties on Bassil personally in 2020, through the kidnapping of Lara Samaha and her husband, who in turn filed a lawsuit against Bassil, his personal lawyer, Majid Boyz, Salim Jreissati, and a number of those involved.

All the way to the accusation of the US Department of Justice, George Nakhleh Ajaltouni, Jean Youssef Issa and Nakhleh “Mike” Nader, of smuggling weapons from the United States of America to Lebanon.

After Issa’s arrest, the FBI is seeking information that may lead to the arrest of Nader and Ajaltoni, the latter of whom is one of the security escorts of the head of the Free Patriotic Movement.

The indictment indicated that between 2011 and 2014, Ajaltouni and Issa carried out a scheme to smuggle weapons. The statement added that the defendants shipped 40 rifles in four cars in 2013 and 93 rifles in one car in 2014.

So, Gibran Bassil’s name tops the list of US sanctions in all fields, but internally, this man who is involved in a series of corruption files is still aspiring to reserve him a presidential position, brazenly, after the Lebanese were deprived of electricity and plundered public administrations.