[ad_1]
Beirut – Lebanese Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday aimed his last arrows at the Banque du Liban as its mission drew near, in an attempt to evade responsibility and justify its failure.
Diab asked the Banque du Liban to hand over the international company recently hired to carry out a “forensic audit” of the accounts of the Central Bank of Lebanon, the documents and information that it had requested in order to carry out its mission.
The resigned Lebanese government had approved the contract with an international criminal audit firm on the accounts of the Central Bank, despite the presence of two international companies that regularly undertake the process of auditing the accounts, after a breakout several months ago Big dispute between the government and the Central Bank of Lebanon over deficit figures and loss calculation. Financial, since the figures contradicted and varied greatly between the financial and economic recovery plan established by the government and the figures provided by the Central Bank.
The forensic audit of the Bank of Lebanon accounts is the most prominent element of the economic recovery plan that the government approved months ago to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund, as it was included in the terms of the roadmap prepared by France for help Lebanon out of the cycle of economic collapse.
A reform map drawn up by France calls for the implementation of an IMF-backed capital movement law, initiating a central bank audit and launching reforms in the electricity sector.
The “Álvarez y Marsal” company asked the Banque du Liban to deliver the rest of the documents no later than the third of this month, after delivering only 42 percent of the required documents.
The central bank refused to send the remaining documents, as this “opposes” the Credit and Monetary Law that regulates the work of the Central Bank and bank secrecy, according to a source from the bank.
Diab said in a statement that he had instructed Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni to approach the Central Bank of Lebanon to deliver the necessary documents to the international company.
He pointed out that the Legislation and Consultation Authority (legislative advisory body of the Ministry of Justice) confirmed that the Cabinet’s decision to hire a company to carry out the criminal audit obliges the Central Bank to deliver the required documents, with the names of the retained clients when necessary and replaced by numbers to preserve bank secrecy, noting that state accounts Not subject to bank secrecy.
Diab said: “Any reform that does not stem from the criminal audit at the Banque du Liban is a false reform to cover the continuation of the approach that led the country to what it has achieved financially, and what is required today is that The Banque du Liban delivers the documents and information required by the criminal audit company, in order to be able to This audit is to reveal the financial facts and the causes of this collapse. “
He added: “Any attempt to obstruct criminal scrutiny is an association responsible for causing the suffering of the Lebanese financially, economically and in life,” warning what he called the attempt to overthrow the criminal audit to prevent the Lebanese from knowing the truth. on the antecedents of the disappearance of their deposits, the causes of the financial collapse and the deliberate manipulation of the price of the national currency.
The relationship between the head of the interim government, Hassan Diab, and the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, prevails in severe tension, as “Diab” previously attacked Salameh, blaming the central bank – on more than one occasion and publicly – of responsibility for the monetary and financial deterioration in the country, and accused him of financing and supporting the financial policies of successive governments, which were based on the waste of state funds and depositors in the banking sector. As he says.
Diab is fighting the Banque du Liban on behalf of Hezbollah, which in recent months has tried to blame the bank and its governor, Riad Salameh, for the deteriorating financial situation.
It is no secret that Hezbollah tried to remove Salameh from the bank’s governance, considering that he represents US policy in cash flow management, and is directly responsible for implementing the economic sanctions that affected the party and the entities and individuals related to it. him, but international pressure prevented it.
Since last year, Lebanon has witnessed an economic collapse that coincided with an unprecedented decline in the value of the lira. In March, the state defaulted on the payment of its external debts and then began negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, which were later suspended, pending the unification of Lebanese negotiators, especially representatives of the government and the Bank of Lebanon. , their estimates of the size of the losses and how the reforms should be implemented.
