Lebanese Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and called on him to remain silent.

Lebanese Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and called on him to remain silent.

“It is better for you to remain silent. You [said] that you had stolen (public funds) and lied (to people), and it is my right to say whatever I want, to demand that you be tried and for your parliamentary immunity be lifted,” Aoun said following his weekly bloc’s meeting.

He also addressed Jumblatt, saying “Do not dare unleash your tongue again, we have suffered enough because of you.”

“I only speak the truth and he only seeks to insult me,” he declared.

“Why are you harshly criticizing me? We know your truth and the truth of your ministers who preach about ethics when they (have none).”

Concerning the dispute over the government’s extra-budgetary spending, Aoun renewed his accusation against President Michel Sleiman, holding him responsible for the failure to approve the $5.9 billion spending bill.

“I was informed by some institutions that they are facing financial difficulties because of the president has failed to sign the bill,” he revealed.

March 14 MPs wanted $11 billion dollars in extra-budgetary government spending from 2006 to 2011 to be legalized, while March 8 rejected the proposal and instead demanded the approval of only $6 billion in extra-budgetary spending for the current cabinet.

Sleiman has repeatedly voiced his refusal to sign a decree allocating $6 billion to the current cabinet for extraordinary expenses in 2011, and called for taking into consideration the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee’s remarks on it, which have not been made public.