Tripoli, 5 December:
The official spokesman of the Integrity Commission, Nasir Bennour, has said that the Commission has not made its final . . .[restrict]decision on Abdulsalam Mohammed Abusaad, appointed as Minister of Religious Affairs and Awqaf by Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.
Speaking yesterday, Tuesday, Bennour said the reason was because there had been a delay in the Commission receiving relevant documents. Apart from Abusaad, all ministers had now been investigated, he added, including the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Awad Al-Barassi. The only person not to have been investigated, Bennour said, was Sami Al-Saadi, appointed Minister for Martyrs and the Missing, because he had resigned and his post was considered vacant.
So far, however, Prime Minister Zeidan has neither accepted Saadi’s resignation nor appointed a replacement.
Although the commission has investigated all ministers, there were eight, including Abusaad, whose suitability for office was questioned. Three have now been cleared — Ali Al-Aujali (Foreign Affairs), Kamla Khamis Al-Mazini (Social Affairs) and Ahmed Ayad Ali Al-Urfi (Agriculture)— while four have been declared unfit for office. They are Ashour Sulaiman Shuwail (Interior), Ali Mohammed Muhairiq (Electricity), Abdulasalm Bashir Duabi (Higher Education) and Muaz Fathi Al-Khoja (Minister for Relations with Congress).
Shuwail went to court to challenge the ruling and on Sunday won his lawsuit. The Commission instantly submitted a counter-appeal which it had already prepared in case it lost.
The outcome of the counter appeal could take months. In the case of former undersecretary at the health ministry, Adel Abushufa who was disbarred by the Commission in April and then won his case against the decision in July, it took almost five months for judges at the First Administrative Chamber of the Tripoli Appeals Court to finally clear him.
Pending a final decision on his case, Shuwail has now assumed office as interior minister.
In the case of Abusaad, it is alleged that the real reason why some are pushing for him to be disbarred is that he is a Sufi. The Justice and Construction Party are reported to be particularly unhappy with his appointment. [/restrict]
