US sanctions 2 Lebanese businessmen, lawmaker

The United States on Thursday sanctioned two wealthy Lebanese businessmen and a member of parliament for undermining the rule of law in Lebanon. 

“Jihad al-Arab, Dany Khoury and Jamil Sayyed have each personally profited from the pervasive corruption and cronyism in Lebanon, enriching themselves at the expense of the Lebanese people and state institutions,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. 

According to the Treasury, Arab used his personal connections to secure lucrative public contracts in exchange for kickbacks to government officials. After winning a contract to build much-needed landfills in Beirut, for example, his company reportedly “added water to garbage containers to inflate their billable weight.”

The department described Khoury as a close business associate of US-sanctioned Christian lawmaker Gibran Bassil. As a result, Khoury won large public contracts worth millions of dollars “while failing to meaningfully fulfill the terms of those contracts.” 

The statement also noted that Khoury and his company are accused of throwing toxic waste into the Mediterranean Sea, poisoning fisheries and polluting Lebanon’s beaches. 

The Treasury designated Sayyed, a sitting member of parliament, for seeking “to skirt domestic banking policies and regulations.” With the help of a senior Lebanese official, he allegedly sent over $120 million offshore “presumably to enrich himself and his associates.” 

During Lebanon’s massive anti-government protests in 2019, demonstrators reportedly protested outside Sayyed’s home and called on him to resign. He responded by calling on officials to shoot and kill the protesters, the Treasury statement said.

The Biden administration’s sanctions come as the small Mediterranean country is experiencing its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The United States and other foreign donors have called on Lebanon to enact long-promised reforms before receiving further financial assistance.

“Now is the time to implement necessary economic reforms and put an end to the corrupt practices eroding Lebanon’s foundation,” said Andrea Gacki, the Treasury’s director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. “The Treasury will not hesitate to use its tools to address impunity in Lebanon.”

The United States has so far provided Lebanon with more than $400 million in humanitarian assistance in 2021, in addition to more than $200 million in security assistance, according to the State Department.