The British High Court of Justice has ordered two Lebanese banks to pay some $4 million to a Lebanese-British depositor. (Credit: Ben Stansall/AFP)
BEIRUT – The British High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of a Lebanese-British businessman, Vatche Manoukian, in a complaint targeting the Lebanese banks, Bank Audi and SGBL, on the basis of having refused to execute requests to transfer funds in 2019 from Lebanon abroad.
Here’s what we know:
• The complainant had requested a transfer of all of the complainant funds from a bank in Lebanon and to close his accounts there. However, in the second half of 2019, Lebanese banks began imposing de-facto capital controls measures without a law that supported it which prevented the client from transferring his money.
• L'Orient-Le Jour was able to obtain a copy of the decision dated Feb. 28, 2022. The lawsuit was initiated at the end of 2020 and concerned just over $4 million in pounds sterling, dollars and euros, according to the exchange rates currently in force. The complainant has also claimed damages amounting to $500 per day for the delay incurred by the two banks in executing his request. The court held that it had jurisdiction to decide the dispute, despite the fact that the funds were deposited in accounts in Lebanon.
• According to L’Orient-le Jour’s calculations based on the details of the judgment, the British court thus ordered SGBL to transfer nearly $2.9 million denominated in pounds sterling and dollars, while Bank Audi was ordered to transfer a little more than $1.1 million, denominated in pounds sterling, dollars and euros.
• The reasons for the decision were not detailed in the documents. According to a source familiar with the matter, referring to procedures in force in British law, the banks have until Friday, March 4 to comply with this decision, while the appeal period is 21 days from the date of publication of the reasoned decision.
• Numerous lawsuits have been filed by customers of Lebanese banks challenging the restrictions imposed on their accounts in Lebanon and abroad. At the end of 2021, the British High Court of Justice ruled in favor of BLOM Bank in a first instance dispute against one of its clients. Also in December last year, a French court ruled against Saradar Bank in a lawsuit initiated by one of its clients, ordering the bank to pay $2.8 million to the locked out depositor. Saradar subsequently announced its intention to appeal the ruling.