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After the financial audit firm decided its decision to withdraw from its mission in Lebanon, all eyes are on the Lebanese state’s next steps.
And the financial auditing firm “Alvarez & Mersal” decided to officially inform the Lebanese state of its removal from the criminal audit trail last week from its mission in Lebanon.
Attention is directed to the steps that the Lebanese State will take after the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, confirmed his adherence to the criminal financial audit, especially because today in Lebanon an interim government has specific powers, and therefore to contract with any other company it will require waiting for the formation of the new government.
Sources familiar with the negotiations with the company told Al-Ain News that the Lebanese state will make efforts to urge the company to retract its decision and, if it does not, an agreement will be reached with a new company to carry out. homework. Noting that President Aoun will hold intensive meetings, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, in this regard, to reach a conclusion soon.
The Lebanese factions exchange accusations about responsibility for what happened, for which some believe that the governor of the Banque du Liban, Ritat Salameh, receives broad political support that makes him toughen his position, although most parties express their support to this investigation.
Penalty clause
Last week, the forensic financial auditing company “Álvarez y Marsal” informed Lebanon of the termination of the contract to audit the Central Bank’s accounts, for not obtaining the required documents, as announced by the Presidency of the Republic.
The termination of the contract came despite the announcement by the interim government finance minister, Ghazi Wazni, earlier this month, to extend the deadline given to the Banque du Liban to deliver its data for three months, after it failed to would have done so within the period specified in the contract under the pretext of the bank secrecy law.
In this context, the economic analyst Morris explained when the Banque du Liban relied on article 151 and article 41 of the Monetary and Credit Law and the Banking Secrecy Law, which prohibits delivery to a third party other than the interested party , the Lebanese state, of documents and details of their accounts and any accounts related to another party, and thus the problem occurred. “The Banque du Liban handed over all documents related to their personal accounts to the company, but refused to deliver the documents related to the accounts of the Lebanese State and demanded that the State deliver an official letter to him with this request so that he would fulfill his turn to deliver it to the Ministry of Finance, which he has available and thus removes legal responsibility.
He pointed out that when the legal and constitutional obstacles arose, the Lebanese state agreed with the company for 3 months, but before the deadline expired, everyone was surprised by the withdrawal of the company, and this is what a penalty clause establishes in Lebanon worth $ 150,000 and does not oblige the agreed company to pay fees, which amount to about $ 3 million. .
3 scenarios
Matta summarized in “Al Ain News” the options proposed to keep the audit as follows …
First: Meetings in the next stage between the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance and the current company to persuade them to change their decision and continue with the additional period until the state obtains the data and documents necessary to be able to provide them from the Banco del Lebanon.
Second: Acceptance of the termination of the contract, payment of the amount and formation of a new government This government announces bids with international auditing firms to sign a new contract with another company.
Regarding the third option, Matta recalls what the Minister of Justice in the interim government, Marie-Claude Negm, said, that there are legal options that force the Banque du Liban to hand over the documents, but they are not clear so far and not they are announced, and according to her assures that they are under study and scrutiny. Knowing that, in parallel, a series of parliamentary blocs, headed by the “Lebanese Forces” bloc, presented proposed laws to the House of Representatives to modify the bank secrecy law with specific conditions within certain mechanisms that serve criminal investigation , and in the event that a bill is approved, the data delivery process is facilitated.
Matta pointed out that if the company does not retract its decision, then going to a new company is supposed to also form a new government, because the interim government has no right to sign contracts with a new company because it will cost money to the state outside of the official budget, and this is not done within the interim clause.
The forensic financial audit in the Central Bank and the state institutions is the most important provision of the economic recovery plan and to discover the sources of waste and corruption in Lebanon that have led the country to the economic and social crisis that it suffers, and therefore Therefore, its non-compliance will worsen the Lebanese situation in a country that has experienced its worst crises for years without identifying the parties. Responsable.
Documents delivery
With accusations to the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, for not receiving the documents, the bank had issued a statement about three weeks ago announcing that it had turned over all its accounts in accordance with the rules to the Minister of Finance. She said the state could “request a detailed status of all its accounts and subsequently hand them over to authorities that she believes is appropriate to inform her of that, ‘what’ would prevent the Banque du Liban from violating legally binding secrecy laws.
On the other hand, the French Press Agency reported, according to a source from the bank, stating that the latter delivered only 42 percent of the required documents to the company.
With Salameh armed with the bank secrecy law, many officials hold Salameh responsible for the deterioration of the exchange rate of the lira against the dollar, as a result of the monetary policies he adopted in recent years, while Salameh’s response was that “He financed the state but didn’t spend the money.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has witnessed an economic collapse and a crisis that is open to all possibilities, with the value of the lira collapsing to an unprecedented level, while the state failed last March in paying its external debts. Although the government began negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, it came back and stopped after a dispute between Lebanese negotiators representing the government and the Bank of Lebanon over their estimates of losses.
