Wahhab Apologizes Over Checks Scandal: We Were Hoaxed

Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab has apologized for the checks scandal that he raised two weeks ago and said he had the guts to say it out loud.

Those “who don’t have the guts to take a stance, don’t have the guts to apologize, and I have both,” Wahhab told Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5) on Saturday.

Wahhab revealed on April 16 photos of checks addressed to MP Jamal al-Jarrah and former minister Abdul Hamid Baydoun signed by Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz. He also uncovered similar checks addressed to Jamal Khaddam, the son of former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam.

He said the Saudi money was aimed at funding anti-Assad regime protestors.

Wahhab’s press office said Friday that the Tawhid movement leader was hoaxed by a man called Ibrahim Baydoun who handed the copies of the checks to him.

Baydoun, who used to work at one of the offices of the Saudi Prince, had reportedly replaced the names endorsed on the checks by the names of al-Jarrah, Abdul Hamid Baydoun and Khaddam.

We have the courage today to say that “this young man hoaxed us, for reasons we do not know,” the Tawhid movement said.

“So we apologize to the people whose names appeared on the fake checks,” the statement added.

Former minister Baydoun, whose name was revealed on one of the checks, thanked Wahhab for expressing regret.

“I thank Wiam Wahhab for apologizing and I accept it,” he told VDL (100.5).