Banque du Liban headquarters in Beirut. (Credit: AFP archive photo)
With a few notable exceptions, the political class and the banking and financial sectors have been remarkably silent about the significant arrest of former Banque du Liban (BDL) Governor Riad Salameh on Sept. 3. Our information indicates that this quiet actually masks a great deal of worry as per the outcome of the legal procedure. The concern about Salameh’s fate personally is not to be compared with that of what the investigation is likely to show about BDL’s decades-long practices and the veracity of the accounts it submitted during this time, which acted as a reference for the country’s foreign allies and the entire financial system.The country’s highest financial authorities are particularly concerned about one aspect, according to several sources close to the political and financial circles who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour. It is...
With a few notable exceptions, the political class and the banking and financial sectors have been remarkably silent about the significant arrest of former Banque du Liban (BDL) Governor Riad Salameh on Sept. 3. Our information indicates that this quiet actually masks a great deal of worry as per the outcome of the legal procedure. The concern about Salameh’s fate personally is not to be compared with that of what the investigation is likely to show about BDL’s decades-long practices and the veracity of the accounts it submitted during this time, which acted as a reference for the country’s foreign allies and the entire financial system.The country’s highest financial authorities are particularly concerned about one aspect, according to several sources close to the political and financial circles who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour....