Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Tuesday slammed the delay in finalizing the audit of previous years' accounts.

“What happened to auditing the state's financial accounts?” Gemayel asked during the Parliament's legislative session.

“We are present here today to discuss the state budget which will probably be approved within two or three days; however, the audit of previous years' accounts is still not finalized,” he deplored, noting that it will be tackled ahead of passing the budget.

“This is not a formality, but a fundamental procedure to put politicians to account and an inspection mechanism for the Lebanese people to uncover the sources of squandering over the previous years. It is an essential mechanism to guarantee proper functioning of financial regulations and State affairs,” Gemayel stated.

“It is not right to obtain the financial accounts of previous years, hours before passing the State budget without reading and studying it first.”

“We must reach the financial accounts through a perceptive study and through scrutinizing last years’ accounts’ figures before approving the budget of this year,” he elaborated.

“This is a constitutional violation and prevention for the Parliament to do its job in assessment, accountability and supervision, plus, it impedes our role as lawmakers,” he lambasted.

“Attaining the financial accounts an hour before passing the budget and approving it in half an hour is a charade, because it is not possible for any deputy to study the accounts in such a short time so might as well not submit it,” Gemayel derided.

Gemayel implored Prime Minister Saad Hariri to hold an emergency session to finalize the audits of the previous years to which the PM agreed on doing either today or tomorrow.