The LAF budget – closed ranks

“Whenever you have military contracting, there is bound to be some money creamed off the top,” according to Yezid Sayigh, senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center. How much is creamed off in Lebanon, however, is difficult to establish. The Lebanese defense budget is one of the most opaque budgets in the world, being awarded the lowest possible rank in Transparency International’s 2011 Defense Budget Transparency report, on a similar level to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt and Iraq. This indicates a lack of auditing, a lack of public access to budgeting information and a lack of access and detailed knowledge by oversight committees and the legislature. Furthermore, “secret expenditures,” go completely without oversight. “There is money but no accountability,” says former General Brigadier Elias Hanna. The low score is, however, in line with regional trends according to Leah Wawro, project officer at Transparency International and author of the