Justice Minister Adel Nassar publicly broke ranks with the government on Friday, voting against a draft law aimed at addressing the country’s financial gap and recovering depositors’ funds, citing deep legal, technical and accountability concerns.

The cabinet nevertheless approved the controversial bill by a vote of 13 ministers in favor and nine against during a session at the Grand Serail chaired by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Nassar was among the ministers who opposed the draft, even as he stressed the urgency of adopting a financial recovery law to confront the collapse that has gripped Lebanon since 2019.

In a statement explaining his vote, Nassar said his opposition was rooted not in rejection of reform, but in what he described as serious shortcomings in the current text. Chief among them, he said, was the absence of a comprehensive forensic audit into the causes of the financial crisis, covering the state, Banque du Liban and commercial banks, both before and after the October 17, 2019 uprising.

Nassar also pointed to a lack of clarity in the figures underpinning the draft law, questioning whether the numbers accurately reflect the scale of losses and whether the state has the real capacity to meet the obligations outlined in the plan. He warned that this ambiguity risks undermining confidence in the entire recovery process.

Another key objection raised by the justice minister concerned the expected outcomes for depositors. Nassar said the draft failed to clearly define how depositors’ situations would improve in practice and how their rights would be fully guaranteed, leaving too much room for uncertainty in a country where trust in financial institutions has already been shattered.

He further cited unresolved technical and legal issues, including the right to challenge decisions taken under the law, and the authority responsible for determining the size of the debt between the Lebanese state and the central bank. These gaps, he argued, could expose the law to legal challenges and weaken its enforceability.