Syrian Brigadier General Rustom Ghazaleh, who is accused of implication in former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's murder, said that he was ready to step down or even die a martyr, in a television interview on Tuesday, as calls went out the previous day to put his accuser on trial for high treason.
"If the leadership asks me to die a martyr, I am ready ... and if they ask me to resign, I am also ready," Ghazaleh, the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, told Al Jazeera news channel.
Ghazaleh denied accusations of corruption, including charges last week by Syrian former vice-president Abdel Halim Khaddam that Ghazaleh took $35 million from Lebanon's Al Madina Bank, which collapsed two years ago.
"This is all baseless, part of the unjust campaign against Syria," he said. "Me and all of my relatives are ready to disclose our financial statements, and if they find any Syrian dime in any country, let them disclose it," he said.
The Syrian government said on Monday that it might put Khaddam on trial for high treason and investigate him for corruption.
The announcement came after Khaddam's explosive allegation that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad had threatened Hariri a few months before his death, which he made in an interview on Friday on Al Arabiya television.
"The council of ministers will take the necessary measures to try Khaddam for high treason, and to open an inquiry into corruption in a series of matters that will include seizing his assets," official daily newspaper Ath Thawra said.
The newspaper said that the government announcement meant that it would follow up on demands made by loyalist MPs, who called for Khaddam to be tried for treason and corruption.
Ath Thawra also quoted ordinary Syrians interviewed about the situation who said, "punishing him is a national duty" and called Khaddam "a traitor who sold his conscience for a fistful of dollars".
Syria's ruling Baath party has said that it had expelled the ex-vice-president for comments that it described as "slander that violates the principles of the nation".
Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Al Abrash called on Monday for Khaddam to be brought to trial as quickly as possible, in a letter addressed to justice minister Mohammed Ghafri.
"We ask you to take the necessary measures for Abdel Halim Khaddam, who committed the crime of treason and damaged state security, to be judged by the competent courts as soon as possible," it read.
Khaddam, long the architect of Syria's military and political domination of neighboring Lebanon, accused Assad of threatening Hariri just months before his murder, dealing a fresh blow to the increasingly pressured Syrian regime.
"I will destroy anyone who tries to hinder our decisions," Khaddam quoted Assad as telling Hariri during a meeting in Damascus.
Khaddam, who broke his silence for the first time since resigning in June and was speaking from Paris where he and his family now live, said that the meeting took place a few months before the February 14 assassination of Hariri.
The popular five times Lebanese prime minister was killed in a Beirut bomb blast for which a UN probe has implicated Syrian intelligence.
"We must await the results of the investigation, but no Syrian security service could take such a decision unilaterally," Khaddam said.
The UN commission of inquiry probing Hariri's murder asked on Monday to interview Assad, Khaddam and foreign minister Farouk Al Shara and was awaiting an answer from Syria, a spokeswoman in Beirut said.
She added that the commission wanted to meet Khaddam "as soon as possible".
But the Damascus government daily Tishrin blasted Khaddam for his allegations against his country.
"We were surprised by Khaddam's mudslinging against his country ... he is the last one who can talk about corruption," it wrote on Monday.
Khaddam was "the first to get in the way of reform measures. During all the [Baath] party meetings he warned against the risks of introducing democratic freedoms and economic and administrative reforms" in Syria, Tishrin said.
Syrian in Hariri murder probe offers to resign
TOOLBAR
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.