‘Ceylon Tea’ donation: Lebanon president faces row

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has come under fire after it emerged that tea donated by Sri Lanka for victims of last month’s Beirut blast was distributed instead to families of his presidential guards, AFP reported.

Aoun has a new social media hashtag — #TeaThief — and his conduct has been described as shameful, although admittedly not for the first time, said media reports.

“The tea was sent to the Lebanese, particularly those affected by the explosion,” said independent MP Paula Yacoubian in an AFP report.

“Of course it wasn’t a present for those who don’t need it. Distributing the aid to your entourage is shameful.”

Paula Yacoubian resigned after the blast.

The president’s office on Aug. 24 released a picture of Aoun receiving the Sri Lankan ambassador, and quoted her as saying Colombo had “donated 1,675 kilos of Ceylon tea to those affected by the Beirut blast.”

After Lebanese media and social media asked what happened to the donation, it issued a second statement on Tuesday.

The presidency said Aoun had written to his Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to thank him for “a gift of Ceylon tea that had been received by the army … and distributed to the families of soldiers in the presidential guard.”

Social media erupted in criticism, with the hashtags “tea thief” and “Ceylon tea” trending on Twitter.

“Distributing the aid to your entourage is shameful,” she wrote.

Another user quipped: “The excuse that it was a present for the president is even worse than the sin itself.”