The “alliance of the two systems” abandons financial scrutiny

Beirut – Indira Matar –

The coalition of the political and financial systems abandoned the criminal audit process at the Banque du Liban, which constitutes a basic starting point for the reforms that the international community has drawn up for Lebanon as a condition for granting it the assistance it needs. Just as the political class unanimously agreed to the French initiative and welcomed it with open arms, and just as it showed enthusiasm for negotiating with the International Monetary Fund, it agreed that it was forced to accept a financial audit after delaying and preventing various pretexts, by realizes that things will not come to an end thanks to detailed Lebanese laws to measure them.

Both systems were used; Political and financial, the weapon of bank secrecy to hinder the investigation of “Alvarez & Marsal” and thwart its mission; The governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, refrained from providing the company with the required documents, and the references and political forces supported him by refusing to overcome the obstacles of the law by temporarily suspending work in it or finding an adequate way to complete this process.

Faced with these complications, the company in charge of the audit made the decision to terminate the agreement signed with the Ministry of Finance, after agreeing to extend its work period for 3 more months at the beginning of this month, “since the company did not obtain the information and documentation required to begin to implement its mission, and its uncertainty of reaching such Information, even if it was granted an additional period of three months to deliver the necessary documents for the forensic audit of the Bank of Lebanon accounts.

A former bank reference revealed to Al-Qabas that it was not surprised by Alvarez’s withdrawal, which was expected sooner or later. He adds that the verification that it reached its limits (effectively signifying the end of a series of political forces) was an illusion; Because the coalition of those affected by the disclosure of the fate of Lebanese deposits and money stolen for decades is much larger than that of those who wish to reveal the truth.

If the political and financial authority is serious about auditing the Banque du Liban, which is the primary source for all bank and public accounts, as well as personal accounts of individuals and groups that could be audited, they would have modified the required laws before concluding the agreement with them, including the bank secrecy law and the monetary and credit law. In particular, article 151 prohibits any current or former employee of the Banque du Liban from providing information.

Regarding the first repercussions of the fall of the audit process, whose main objective was to reveal the destination of the looted funds and to launch the first step of the reform process, that is, to reassure the Lebanese people and the international community at the same time. time, it will be evidenced in the flight of the dollar exchange rate as a consequence of the closure of all the way out of the economic crisis. This was indicated by the financial expert Hassan Khalil, considering that “the announcement of the departure of the Álvarez company is evidence of the beginning of the big bang.”