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43 minutes ago
Ghazi my weight
Beirut – “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”:
The US presidential elections drew attention in Lebanon at the cost of anticipating efforts to form the Lebanese government in the face of disparity in information about government developments among those who expected an imminent visit by President-designate Saad Hariri to the Baabda Palace to complete the investigation in their ministerial formation, and those who consider that the atmosphere of optimism and progress that is taking place. Your brew is overrated and tends to get fuzzy because some of the knots are still in place.
The political scene in Beirut was filled with news related to the criminal audit in the accounts of the Banque du Liban, where the director of Alvarez & Marsal, responsible for the criminal audit, arrived in the Lebanese capital, Daniel James, and met with the Minister of Finance in the interim government, Ghazi Wazni, and the options to be taken on the subject of the contract were discussed during the course of the year. The next 24 hours, in light of the Banque du Liban reservations about the violation of bank secrecy and the delivery of all documents. James said after the meeting: “We came to assess whether the Banque du Liban provided sufficient information to allow A&M to initiate the forensic audit.”
Regarding the Banque du Liban, it clarified in a statement that “with reference to the letter from His Excellency the Minister of Finance, which included a study from His Excellency the Minister of Justice based on the advice of the Commission on Legislation and Consultation Ministry of Justice in which it was literally considered that “the banking secrecy observed in Lebanese legislation does not apply to state and bank accounts Lebanon”, and after a deliberation in the Central Council of the Banque du Liban on 4/11 / 2020, the Banque du Liban indicated that it had handed over all its accounts to His Excellency the Minister of Finance in accordance with the rules. Regarding the State accounts, the Lebanese State can request a detailed disclosure of all its accounts, and subsequently deliver them to those it deems appropriate to report them, which prevents the Banque du Liban from violating the legally binding confidentiality laws and whose violation will entail criminal consequences.
The statement added: “It is regrettable that recently newspapers (including Al-Alamiah) and social networks have published the information and data provided to Alvarez & Marsal by the Ministry of Finance, which violates the law and the provisions of the contract signed between it. last and the aforementioned company. The bank also confirms that it has delivered, in accordance with the law, all the documents requested by the auditing companies KPMG and Oliver Wyman, in addition to the fact that the Banque du Liban has contracted two international companies for the external audit of its accounts since 1994.
In a position in favor of bank secrecy, the Vice President of Parliament, Elie Ferzli, considered that “the purpose of lifting the secrecy is to harm the supreme economic, financial and monetary interest of the country.” And he said: “Without bank secrecy, we would not have been until today, despite the serious crisis we are suffering. We are based on the hope of tomorrow, because it is possible to reproduce a strong situation in everything, including the recovery of depositors of their deposits.
Al-Farzli supported “lifting the bank secrecy on money laundering and terrorism and on a person who works in the public field at the level of the public office, the ministry, the prosecution, the presidency or any other position.” This is the jurisdiction of the Judiciary, but no, I will not publicly raise this bank secrecy except for a criminal investigation that affects the corrupt.
He continued: “There are foreigners who came and put their money in Lebanon, and the amount of foreigners’ money in Lebanese accounts thanks to bank secrecy is not insignificant. From where do I have the right to expose these people to all kinds of prosecutions in their countries because I took away their banking secrecy? Where do I have the right to break as part of a contract? Someone came and said that I want to deposit money with you on the basis that you have a bank secret, and I come to collect it? ”. Revealing that “when the Central Bank lifted the banking secrecy in its private accounts, these accounts that the company received were published in the magazine“ Fox ”of the United Arab Emirates. United “, asking:” Do we want to see the stories of these people published in the international community? What is the purpose of systematically destroying the confidence of this international community in what is left in Lebanon due to bank secrecy to satisfy this or that of the people?
