Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received a delegation from the Depositors Association today at the government headquarters. Following the meeting, Raed Bou Hamdan, speaking on behalf of the delegation, explained that the discussion focused on the future directions of the draft financial reorganization law.
Bou Hamdan affirmed that the meeting on behalf of the Depositors Association “does not summarize the opinions of all depositors in Lebanon,” and added that just as it is not permissible to summarize the opinions of any party, it is also not permissible to summarize the Association’s position through the media campaign launched by the banking association’s lobbying group against the proposed law, which claims that depositors and banks reject this project.
He mentioned that the Association, as a representative of the interests of depositors, presented its observations and objections, noting that these objections stem from a different perspective than what the banking association and the lobbying group are seeking. He emphasized that the Association demands the protection of gold as a national treasure, while the banking association, as he said, seeks to sell ten billion dollars of gold to compensate for its losses.
Bou Hamdan also affirmed that the Association demands a forensic audit and accountability, noting that these points were added to the articles of the government’s draft issued after efforts and contacts with the Prime Minister’s office, in contrast to the banking association’s rejection of forensic audit and accountability, according to him. He also stressed the importance of doing justice to depositors whose deposits are less than $100,000, as well as those whose deposits exceed this amount, allowing them to recover their deposits at the best possible value.
He concluded by saying that the banks are “trading in the depositors’ pain to undermine the plan,” considering that they do not want any plan at the present time, and that they are trying to evade bearing responsibilities and losses by burdening them on the depositors and throwing them on the state’s shoulders, that is, on public money and citizens in the future.
