The start of the investigation for the theft of “subsidized dollars” and the closing of another! Surveillance of bank secrecy

Radwan Mortada wrote in “Al-Akhbar”:

The Dahiya Judicial Detachment launched an investigation to uncover those involved in the theft of “subsidized dollars” without much hope of reaching “happy endings” due to the reluctance of the Banque du Liban to cooperate on such files. It is noteworthy that the opening of the investigation coincided with the closure of a similar investigation after the issuance of an accusation to avoid the trial of all the defendant money changers accused of damaging the financial prestige of the state, by affecting the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound and violating the banking law and money laundering!

The Dahia Judicial Detachment opened a secret investigation into information on fraud and manipulation to steal “subsidized dollars” from the Banque du Liban. The facts available to the investigators indicate that some money changers received dollars from the Banque du Liban according to the official exchange rate (1,515 pounds per dollar) under the pretext of buying food included in the food basket supported by the Central Bank, but they used these funds elsewhere.

Investigators and investigating judges are not very optimistic that the file could end up condemning those involved, especially since there is a responsibility of the Central Bank in terms of not verifying the form of disbursement of these sums. Furthermore, past experiences regarding any investigation related to the Banque du Liban are not encouraging. Since the central bank often does not express any cooperation in this regard. It recovers the facts of the lawsuit filed a few months ago against “Halawi Exchange Company”, according to which the director of cash operations of the Central Bank, Mazen Hamdan, and the observer of the Banking Control Commission, Kamal Al-Amin, were summoned to testify at the Al-Dhahia detachment. The investigator and the judge requested, at that time, to provide details of the dollar sales to the exchange companies and the approvals that were trusted to carry out these operations. However, the bank refrained from disclosing this information under the pretext that it is covered by the bank secrecy provisions.

In addition, “Al-Akhbar” publishes the prohibition of the imputation of the first investigating judge who acted in Beirut, Charbel Bou Samra, of the trial on behalf of bankers and bankers accused of damaging the financial prestige of the State, by affecting the rate exchange of the lira and violate the law on banking and money laundering. The decision was based on investigations conducted by the Southern Suburbs Detachment in the Criminal Investigation Department into exchange rate manipulation in early May with the owners of the eight largest foreign exchange firms about their financial activity in the market. The decision stated that “the defendant Al-Sarraf Muhammad B. used to buy dollars in the Sidon market through an employee of his company and then resell them without issuing sales receipts. He used an exchange rate determined by the money changers, Walid Wehbe and Walid M. Wael H. It turns out that W. bought dollars and sold them to Karim K., one of the officials of a bank: the branch of Mirna Shalouhi. And he mentioned in the investigations that he was communicating with the bank’s management and not with Kh. Personally”.

In addition, K. That “by virtue of his job at the bank, he used to appraise dollar purchases, while other departments take charge of receiving bills. He pointed out that he used to buy dollars to satisfy the needs of the bank and not to his personal account, and that the price of the dollars was made with Lebanese sums in cash transferred by the Central Bank to be used to pay the salaries of the employees and complete the banking operations according to the needs of the bank’s clients. Kh. He explained in the investigation that “he bought dollars from Ramez M. Walid W. Also. Wael H. The price of the dollar was determined according to the daily rates that were established after contacting the exchange companies Wehbe and Halawi. As Elias S. mentions that he was buying dollars at 3850 pounds and selling them to various money changers who would call him to establish the daily exchange rate “.

And the investigating judge considered that “none of the defendants made false accusations of causing the decline of national banknotes”, and that “there was no conspiracy among the money changers to manipulate the exchange rate.” He noted that “regardless of whether the communication between the exchangers is considered a verbal agreement, it is not established that the intention of this communication is to undermine the state’s financial institutions. Regarding the violation by companies of the decisions of the governor of the Central Bank, the judge said that “the Lebanese constitution provides for the adoption of a free economic system (…) and the decision of the ruler, regardless of its constitutionality , does not promote its application to administrative regulations that violate article 770 of the Penal Code ”. . Therefore, it decided “to prevent the trial of all the tellers, and with them the defendant responsible in the aforementioned bank, Karim Kh .., to prove that the latter did not make any sale to his account, but that all operations were on his account of the bank in which he works, to ensure liquidity to the bank’s clients “.