An exchange shop in Beirut. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today/File photo)
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A Lebanese judge ordered a “precautionary seizure” of assets belonging to Banque du Liban governor Riad Salameh yesterday, a judicial source told AFP, amid ongoing local and international investigations into his alleged embezzlement of central bank funds. “The seizure included luxury real estate and apartments owned by the governor in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Batroun, in addition to a number of cars,” the official added. On July 4, the French judiciary reaffirmed the seizure of tens of millions of euros’ worth of assets seized from Salameh over suspicions that they were acquired using embezzled BDL funds. Salameh, his brother Raja and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek — his alleged accomplices in embezzling central bank funds — are scheduled to appear for a questioning today.
Banque du Liban (BDL) governor Riad Salameh on Sunday denied reports that banks will suspend transactions using the central bank’s Sayrafa exchange platform, while one of BDL’s vice governors told Reuters the platform would indeed be phased out this month. A day before Salameh’s statement, local television station MTV reported that negotiations were underway to replace Sayrafa with a new platform that would be independent of the central bank. BDL has used the Sayrafa platform as one of its main tools to cut the lira’s losses on the parallel market by providing depositors access to a limited amount of dollars at a stronger rate. The Sayrafa platform is also used to price several official payments, including state electricity bills. The lira recovered to around LL92,000 after dropping to LL99,000 on Saturday, which could be explained by rumors surrounding Sayrafa's fate, according to a bank executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A depositor forcibly recovered $15,000 from an AM Bank branch in Antelias yesterday after threatening to start a fire in the establishment, the Cry of the Depositors collective confirmed to L'Orient Today. Edgar Aouad, accompanied by his 13-year-old son, recovered his deposit after allegedly pouring petrol inside the bank and brandishing a box of matches, according to a spokesperson for the Cry of the Depositors collective who requested anonymity. A member of the depositors’ collective criticized a June update to a Banque du Liban circular lowering the withdrawal limit for certain depositors from $400 to $300. Central bank circulars have mediated withdrawals for certain depositors since October 2019 after commercial banks illegally limited clients’ access to foreign currency funds.
The caretaker cabinet is scheduled to hold the first in a series of meetings next Monday to discuss the preliminary draft of the 2023 budget, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil previously indicated that the draft would include the fiscal adjustment measures adopted this year, such as an increased exchange rate used to calculate customs duties and value-added tax (VAT), as well as salary increases for civil servants. After receiving cabinet approval, the draft budget must still pass through parliamentary committees and Parliament. The entire process is supposed to have been completed by the end of January.
The five-nation group on Lebanon — the US, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt — met on Monday in Doha, where they discussed several measures against politicians and groups who they said were obstructing the election of a new president. "We discussed several options including taking measures against those who obstruct progress in this area," they said in a statement, without elaborating further. Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun left office on Oct. 31 with no successor in place, while Parliament has failed 12 times to vote in a new head of state amid jockeying over candidates.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “How to you protect yourself from food poisoning this summer”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz