Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri adjourns parliamentary session until March 5, after it lost quorum due to March 14 MPs walk out.

Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri adjourns parliamentary session until March 5, after it lost quorum following the March 14 MPs walk out.

Parliamentary legislative session has been resumed Thursday before noon, headed by Speaker Berri, with the presence of PM Najib Miqati and ministers of the cabinet.

Parliamentary minority walked out of the parliamentary session almost an hour after it convened after opening the file of financial credit exchange of the Lebanese government estimated by $8900 billion to cover spending up till 31/12/2011.

March 14 MPs Boutros Harb, Sami Gemayel, George Adwan and Marwan Hamadeh did not leave the session because they had requested to speak.

Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora rejected Speaker Nabih Berri’s proposal to form a parliamentary commission to look into issuing a draft law legalizing the spending of $11 billion that was spent from 2006 to 2009.

Efforts by Berri to convince the al-Mustaqbal bloc MPs and some lawmakers from other opposition blocs to return to parliament went in vain.

March 14 parliamentary sources had stressed that the opposition lawmakers would not vote in favor of the bill that would legalize $5.9 billion spending by the government above 2005 levels., and the transportation allowance draft law proposed by Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, if the parliamentary majority failed to settle the controversy on $11 billion spent during the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri.

After the collapse of the session, Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun denied that the $11 billion had been documented. “We need statements of account,” he said.

The parliament was expected to look into a draft law on allotting the cabinet 8.9 trillion L.L. during its Thursday session.

However, it agreed to cancel the Value Added Tax on red and green diesel “permanently.”

Earlier in the day, Speaker Nabih Berri met with Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati prior to the parliamentary session.

Amal Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan and Change and Reform bloc minister Gebran Bassil also attended the meeting.