Lebanese banks protest as choose blocks lenders from shifting cash overseas

BEIRUT, March 24 (Reuters) – A Lebanese choose on Thursday instructed customs authorities to forestall six banks from shifting cash out of Lebanon, in keeping with a duplicate of the choice seen by Reuters, taking additional steps towards lenders whose belongings she has already ordered frozen.

A lawyer for the Lebanese banking affiliation urged the general public prosecutor to halt implementation of the choice by Choose Ghada Aoun, saying the legislation didn’t give her the ability to restrict the liberty to ship cash and the transfer would add to the deterioration of the Lebanese pound’s worth towards the greenback.

Thursday’s choice applies to Financial institution Audi, Financial institution of Beirut, Creditbank, SGBL, Blom Financial institution and Bankmed.

Banks staged a two-day strike this week in protest towards what they referred to as arbitrary judicial selections.

Raya Hassan, chairman of the board of Bankmed, stated the choice would result in Lebanese banks being remoted from banks overseas, talking in an interview with broadcaster MTV.

Earlier this month, Aoun froze the belongings of Financial institution Audi, Financial institution of Beirut, Blom Financial institution, Bankmed and SGBL and members of their boards whereas she investigates transactions the banks undertook with the central financial institution. learn extra

She additionally banned the heads of their boards from journey. learn extra

In a separate motion, Aoun issued a journey ban for the chairman of Creditbank and froze all of the banks belongings.

She has not charged any of the events talked about with any crime.

In an open letter to the general public prosector, Akram Azoury, the lawyer for the Affiliation of Banks in Lebanon, stated the measure “touches the core of banking work” and would destroy “what’s left of confidence within the banking sector”.

Lebanon has been mired in one of many world’s sharpest ever monetary meltdowns since 2019, when the financial system collapsed beneath the load of an enormous public debt attributable to many years of state corruption and waste, and the unsustainable approach it was financed.

Depositors have been largely frozen out of arduous forex accounts since then, and the Lebanese forex has misplaced greater than 90% of its worth.

Aoun’s newest choice was primarily based a authorized grievance filed by an activist group “the individuals wish to reform the system” which stated the transfer was to forestall deposits being moved overseas.

Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Tom Perry; Enhancing by Kirsten Donovan

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.