Two lawyers ask courts to investigate al-Qard al-Hassan

Two lawyers, including Majed Boutros Harb, asked the general prosecutor's office on Tuesday to investigate Hezbollah's financial institution, al-Qard al-Hassan, which was heavily bombed in two waves by Israel during its more than two-month offensive against the Shiite party.

In the text of their request to open a judicial investigation, Harb, son of former MP Boutros Harb and unsuccessful candidate in the 2022 parliamentary elections, and Elie Kyrillos recalled a first procedure of this kind against the financial organization, which was then filed in 2021 before the attorney general at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Ghada Aoun, before being referred to State Security.

In their request, addressed this time to the office of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar, the two lawyers deplore that no investigation has been launched by State Security in the last three years. They accuse Hezbollah of not having carried out any procedure to legalize itself, while in their first complaint, they already accused it of operating without being registered with the Central Bank and of not being able to be considered an NGO given that it collects deposits and grants microcredits.

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Al-Qard al-Hassan reopens branches in Lebanon despite Israeli strikes

The two lawyers continued to criticize the fact that al-Qard al-Hassan endangered the assets and funds of its clients when it became the target of an Israeli airstrike campaign in recent months. The Israeli air force carried out a series of bombings against the institution's branches on Oct. 20 and again, a few hours before the cease-fire came into effect, on the night of Nov. 26 ad early hours of Nov. 27. Harb and Kyrillos continued to believe that the work of the organization amounts to "money laundering" and that the bombings targeting it led to the destruction of important documents concerning the transactions carried out.

They are demanding that a new investigation be launched.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is under U.S. sanctions. After heavy strikes targeting dozens of its branches in October and November, it reopened its branches in various regions just days after the cease-fire and assured that customer funds and assets had not been destroyed.