Public sector employees in Lebanon are paying the price for the political deadlock out of their living and integrity, yet the decision to increase judges’ salaries was announced last week.

While many judges were in favor of increasing their financial means, the decision seemed like giving a bribe to the judiciary and many magistrates refused to accept the pay rise.  

The judges can now withdraw their salaries at a USD/LBP rate of 8,000, rather than the official rate at 1,500 LBP. They deemed this measure illegal and unfair to other civil servants who barely afford the drive to work in their own cars today.

“Such a measure runs contrary to the principle of equality between the Public sector employees and creates social justice inequality,” said the former Minister of Economy Alain Hakim in an interview with Kataeb.org.

Hakim explained that the said resolution, taking into consideration the low number of judges in Lebanon, would not affect the economy, yet if applied on all civil servants, it would lead to mega inflation.

 According to the former head of the State Shura Council, Judge Shukri Sader, any resolution or raise related to funds should be enforced by law and this was not the case this time.

“From the minister of justice perspective, the amounts raised to pay the judges do not come from state coffers, but from the judges’ mutual fund and I appreciate this initiative, but from a legal perspective, the source of this salary increase is considered to be the state funds and this is unacceptable,” Sader added in an interview with Kataeb.org

“This measure has caused a heated backlash in the judicial body. It shall be put on hold until the Judicial Council affirms the resolution’s legitimacy,” he stated.

He concluded that if the minister of justice was inaccurate in responding to this matter, then this measure would surely be deemed as an indirect bribe.