President Michel Aoun (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that he “insists” on the launching of the forensic audit of the central bank’s accounts and that he wants the submission of the data required by the Alvarez & Marsal company conducting the audit so that it moves forward with and releases its report “within a maximum of 12 weeks.”
Here’s what we know:
• After a meeting with Finance Minister Yousef Khalil and BDL head Riad Salameh, Aoun said in a tweet that he wants the “implementation of the contract between the government and the auditing company, which requires submitting the data required by the firm.” Aoun added that the consequences of not achieving the audit “are negative on all aspects.”
• For their part, Salameh and Khalil said that they are doing what is required with all “possible speed.”
• On Tuesday, BDL had released a statement in response to rumors about the intention of the auditing firm to withdraw due to alleged stalling by BDL in providing documents. The statement said that their submission of documents is taking time due to the preparation of logistics required by the auditing company and due to the time needed to answer the auditors' questions.
• Alvarez & Marsal had pulled out of the audit deal in November 2020 because it had not received the documents required, the Finance Minister at the time Ghazi Wazni told Reuters.