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Acting Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Diab chaired a meeting dedicated to discussing the issue of criminal audit in the accounts of the Banque du Liban, which was attended by ministers: Zeina Aker, Ghazi Wazni and Marie Claude Negm, Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, former Minister Naji Boustani, head of the forensic audit team of the company “Álvarez y Marsal” James Daniel, Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Judge Mahmoud Makiya, and Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Judge Khaled Akkari .
After the meeting, Minister Najm said: “During the meeting, we asked the company“ Alvarez y Misal ”, in charge of the criminal audit of the accounts of Banque du Liban, about the nature of the operations and the documents it requires for be able to perform this audit. There are issues related to the criminal audit itself, there is an aspect related to governance and another related to the logistical aspect, and there are issues related to accounting principles.
He added: “We understood from the Criminal Audit Company that Banque du Liban provided the majority of the responses related to the fourth part, while in the other three sections the responses were very few, as the BDL refused to provide the company the required documents and data. We asked the governor about his refusal to hand over these documents, and he replied that the problem is not in the contract, but in the bank secrecy law, and therefore it must be amended because the Banque du Liban is obliged to comply with it.
“We reiterate our position that there is a decision in two stages taken by the Council of Ministers unanimously to carry out a criminal financial audit of the accounts of the Bank of Lebanon, and another decision to assign the Álvarez y Marsal company to carry out this audit, and this decision is binding on all “.
Najm considered that “the Banque du Liban must deliver all the documents required for the criminal investigation within the period specified in the contract because the bank is not outside the Lebanese state and the ruler is an employee appointed by the Council of Ministers and must abide by the Council decisions The reason for the criminal audit is that there is a big gap in the accounts of the Banque du Liban We want to know where the Lebanese deposits in the banks have gone.
And he added: “We have reiterated our position that there is no banking secrecy in the criminal audit, neither in the accounts of the Lebanese state nor in the accounts of the Banque du Liban, and if the required data refers to operations that reach people, they are referred to by coding to avoid revealing bank secrecy. The governor of the Banque du Liban must implement the government’s decision and, if he refuses, must present an official justification to the government and public opinion as to the reasons that led him to do so.
When asked about the fact of the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the auditing company within three months to deliver the documents required to the company to the BDL, Najm said: “We are committed to the decision of the Council of Ministers and have not there has been an extension of the contract. Rather, there are ideas that are being discussed. There is a contract and a cabinet decision that has not changed. that easy”.
Source: National Information Agency
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