A statement was issued by attorney Nashat al-Hosniah, acting as the legal representative of Mr. Walid Jumblatt, as follows:
On Monday, January 16, 2023, we were confronted by the newspaper "Al-Akhbar," which published two articles relating suspicion to the ongoing investigations in the real estate departments, linking them to the transfer of ownership of several properties belonging to Walid Jumblatt. During this deliberate distortion, false and fabricated facts were misrepresented, prompting us to clarify the following in order to prevent the public from falling victim to these falsehoods:
First: The fabrication of false news to undermine the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party is unfortunately not new for the aforementioned newspaper, as evidenced by the numerous legal disputes against it presented before the Press Court.
Second: Regarding the false and fabricated facts within the articles:
1. The authors claim that the real estate registry opened its doors during a holiday to process transactions outside regular hours for the registration of contracts belonging to Mr. Walid Jumblatt. This statement is entirely untrue, as these contracts, which consist of seven sale agreements, included several properties within the same real estate area and were received by the real estate registry, registered under the daily number in accordance with similar sale agreements belonging to other citizens, and this occurred on a Wednesday, which is a regular working day.
2. The official records of the real estate registry in Baabda confirm the receipt of sale contracts pertaining to Mr. Walid Jumblatt and other citizens on the aforementioned days, noting that on the day a contract was registered for the sale of 20 properties belonging to Jumblatt, 45 contracts were registered for other citizens. The next day, 82 sale contracts were recorded for Jumblatt, along with 444 for other citizens, indicating that the operations of the departments were not limited to Jumblatt's contracts alone, disproving the claims made in the articles.
3. The approval of the real estate registrar in Chouf to execute the sale contracts followed the normal course, just like any sale contract of any Lebanese citizen upon receipt of the appropriate documentation from the concerned real estate office and once the legal conditions were met. When ownership certificates were issued, over 700 certificates were printed that day from the Baabda real estate registry, which included those belonging to Mr. Walid Jumblatt among others, in various real estate areas. It is worth noting that a significant number of ownership certificates related to sale contracts involving Mr. Jumblatt have not yet been issued or delivered up to this date, contradictory to the claims made in the articles.
4. The authors of the articles and "Al-Akhbar" forget the constitutional legal principle which states that there is no tax without a text, and there is no legal text preventing a Lebanese citizen from acting on their property, which is protected by the Constitution and law. In this regard, Mr. Walid Jumblatt exercised his legally guaranteed right and paid the applicable legal fees just like any Lebanese citizen. The insinuation of the articles that he spared himself from taxes, or avoided them, is outrageous and akin to throwing dust in people's eyes since the contracts were submitted long before the implementation of the modifications to real estate fees included in the budget, and the fees were paid at the active rates applicable to all citizens in accordance with the constitutional principle of fairness, inclusiveness, and equality in the application of fees and taxes. These contracts and similar sales agreements were processed according to the established legal norms.
Third: The accusations in the articles against the real estate registrar in Chouf for violating the law in this case have no basis in truth, as the registrar approved the registration of contracts received from the real estate office fulfilling its legal conditions. If he had refrained from executing them, he would have been in violation of the law; instead, he performed his professional duty, as there is no legal text allowing him to refuse to accept citizens' transactions and collect their fees as previously practiced. It is also noted that during that period, the Chouf real estate registry processed hundreds of documented transactions which are recorded in the official deeds, both before and after receiving the sale contracts pertaining to Mr. Walid Jumblatt, and prior to the promulgation of the budget law.
Fourth: The usual practice of "Al-Akhbar" to lend its statements a feeble credibility is to hide behind "judicial" or "security" sources, thus merely referencing judicial sources casts doubt on the credibility of the information as judicial proceedings are confidential. Any leak of this information undermines its seriousness and solidifies the reality of selective files for political purposes, which the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party has consistently warned against, advocating for an independent, honest, just, and non-political judiciary free from selectivity in cases.
Fifth: The linkage in the articles between the transfer of ownership belonging to Mr. Walid Jumblatt and the ongoing judicial pursuits at the real estate registries in Aley and Chouf is a cheap fabrication. Judicial pursuits have their own course and procedures, unaffected by any external influence, as the judiciary is responsible for these procedures, and the concerned judges are fully aware and assured that no protective cover exists for those found guilty of violations; it is solely the responsibility of the judiciary. According to the article, citing judicial sources, Judge Samer Leishaa requested from the real estate departments data regarding the property ownership of employees in the Chouf registry, as well as information on the numbers and types of vehicles registered in their names from the traffic department, and requested from banks to submit their account statements. Therefore, the assertion in the article that the actions against "the people of Chouf" are politically motivated reflects a condemnation for the newspaper and its management.
It is sufficient that references in the articles to several employees who secretly left for Syria serve as confirmation that Jumblatt is not related to this matter. The newspaper should verify who left and who facilitated their departure if it seeks credibility.
Sixth: We reserve the right to approach the competent judiciary to file charges against the newspaper and the authors of the articles for slander, defamation, and fabrication of false news.
