The attention of financial and banking circles is directed towards the press conference that the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Karim Saade, will hold today, as informed sources confirm that the legal and judicial measures that will be announced will include a direct claim against the former Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in addition to Bank Audi.
This development comes in the wake of the statement issued by the Banque du Liban yesterday, in which it announced the holding of a press conference at 12:30 pm today, without specifying the nature or scope of the procedures. However, the available data, according to the sources, indicate that the file is moving from the stage of allusion to a clear judicial step, which is expected to have broad repercussions on the banking sector.
According to the same sources, the approach taken suggests focusing on assigning responsibilities for a previous period while focusing on specific points, without providing a comprehensive presentation of the financial and legal context that prevailed at that stage, or highlighting the collective decisions and policies in which successive governments and various regulatory authorities participated. This raises questions about the motives and limits of this path.
The sources warn that proceeding with the claim against Riad Salameh and Bank Audi, in isolation from a comprehensive and integrated judicial process, may lead to serious repercussions on what remains of confidence in the banking sector, and turn a highly sensitive file into an open political and media issue, at a very delicate time.
In contrast, the sources confirm that Riad Salameh and Bank Audi, during the period in question, worked within the frameworks defined by Lebanese law and the circulars issued by the Banque du Liban, and under the supervision of the competent authorities, considering that any evaluation of that period must be based on documented legal and institutional facts, and not on selective approaches or unilateral decisions.
In this context, the sources confirm that any serious corrective step cannot be limited to the claim against Salameh and Bank Audi only, but must include the claim against everyone who benefited from the funds of the Banque du Liban illegally or illegitimately, regardless of their capacity or position, in parallel with demanding that the Lebanese state recover the debt owed by it to the Banque du Liban, considering that addressing the financial crisis cannot be piecemeal or selective, nor can one party alone bear the consequences of a financial collapse with structural and institutional dimensions.
