BEIRUT, Lebanon, October 12 (Lebanonwire) -- With a single gun shot wound in the mouth, former head of the Syrian Intelligence in Lebanon and until his passing today Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan took to the grave a history of corruption, bloodshed and secrets of a country on a suicidal path, online daily Elaph reported.

The question on everyone’s mind is: did 63-year old Kanaan commit suicide or was he eliminated by the Syrian regime?

The official story goes as this: "General Kanaan left his office to go home, then he came back after three quarters of an hour, took a gun from the drawer and fired a bullet into his mouth," General Walid Abaza, an immediate aide to Kanaan told AFP.

“It is too early to tell,” Mohammad Habash, an MP in the 250-member Syrian parliament told Al-Arabia TV. “He certainly didn’t seem under duress in the last 24 hours, and he is not a suspect in the Rafic Hariri UN murder probe and we shouldn’t speculate at this point until all the facts are in.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, President Bashar Assad told CNN in an exclusive interview “if any Syrian is involved, he will be considered a traitor and severely punished and will be tried in court,” adding “I am confident that Syria, which does not have a history of assassinations, is not involved and I certainly didn’t threaten anyone in the past, nor in the present and did not give orders to kill Hariri.”

According to Elaph, Kanaan who dominated the Lebanese military and political scene for over 20 years, serving under both Syrian presidents Hafez and Bashar Assad, “chose to disassociate himself from a sinking boat to avoid witnessing the slow death of a country that decided to extend president Emile Lahoud’s mandate and assassinate Lebanon’s leaders and media representatives.”

"Kanaan is too smart to get involved with the Hariri killing, but was keenly aware of the repercussions the UN report will have once it is released just a few days from now on October 21st,” Elaph said, adding “he felt incapable of rescuing his dying country.”

Kanaan had spoken Wednesday to a Lebanese radio to make a "final declaration" and deny Syria's involvement in Hariri's murder."This is going to be the final media statement that I can make," Kanaan told Voice of Lebanon radio.

He called Voice of Lebanon to react to a report Tuesday night on Lebanon's private television New TV, which he said amounted to "lies aimed at fooling public opinion.”

New TV reported that Kanaan had received tens of millions of dollars to push through an electoral law that allowed Hariri to win parliamentary elections in 2000 at a time when he was in opposition

Following Kanaan’s suicide, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said following a visit with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora today that he could not offer additional information on the act except to say “Kanaan played a major role in Syria’s occupation and hegemony of Lebanon, and he was one of many Syrian officials under the microscope of UN investigators.”

Dubbed the "viceroy" in Lebanon, Kanaan committed a lot of crimes and went a long way into covering up for a number of corrupt and illegal operations, including drug smuggling and money laundering, Elaph said.

Elaph said Kanaan was known for his security role but most importantly had Lebanon’s finances tightly under his control, creating a “mafia” type network with special interest in money-laundering, but also in official and private commercial deals and bids, “which could not be awarded without his signature and not before collecting his fees.”

“Undoubtedly, Kanaan committed suicide to avoid the scandal and punishment he would face once his illegal activities are made public by the UN report,” Elaph said, adding “lead German investigator for the UN, Detlev Mehlis was aware of Al Madina bank scandal, which with Kanaan's sponsoring bribed a number of local politicians and media personnel with payoffs worth millions of dollars to remain on Syria’s good side.”

The US treasury had recently frozen the accounts of Kanaan and his successor in Lebanon Rustom Ghazaleh, whom it accused of aiding terrorism, while in Lebanon, UN investigators and the Central Bank ordered BLOM Bank to lift banking secrecy on all Syrian officials and Intelligence officers that dealt with the institution throughout the Syrian occupation of the country.

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