
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil at a press conference after his parliamentary group's weekly meeting. (Credit: archives of FPM's website)
The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, threatened legal action on Tuesday if the caretaker government led by Najib Mikati fails to respond to a query submitted by the FPM parliamentary bloc. The query addresses "obstruction of justice and the diversion of depositors' funds" in Lebanon, where access to savings has been restricted by various banking measures since 2019.
In a press conference following the FPM's weekly meeting, Bassil stated that his parliamentary group had submitted several questions to the caretaker government on this issue.
"We have addressed this topic in detail and posed ten questions about the obstruction of justice and the destinations to which the money was diverted," he explained. "We will allow a short period for a response, and if none is provided, we will turn to the judiciary. We have contacted international lawyers regarding the possibility of filing complaints in European countries to have this case handled by the courts," he warned.
The Maronite leader of FPM emphasized that despite the presidential vacancy, war risks, and displacement crisis, Lebanon cannot overlook the economic collapse that worsened after Oct. 17.
"To this day, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) have not received the requested data," he continued, referring to the forensic audit conducted by the firm, which revealed that the cost of the "financial engineering" operations by the Central Bank of Lebanon since 2015 amounted to $76 billion.
"The corruption cases that led to the theft of depositors' savings by the banks cannot be silenced. We cannot live in a state that promotes corruption and impunity," Gebran Bassil insisted, reminding that his party "submitted a draft law" to recover these savings. "43 operations were concealed, and crimes of falsification and concealment of information regarding the accounts where the savings were transferred occurred," he added.
The A&M report focuses on the forensic audit of the Central Bank of Lebanon's accounts, primarily concerning the criminal aspect. The former President of the Republic and FPM founder, Michel Aoun, had taken up this cause by leading a campaign against the former Central Bank governor, Riad Salameh.