The Association of Banks in Lebanon indicated that it “regrets the failure to address the reasons that prompted it to announce its open strike, the most important of which is the judicial prosecutions that are completely outside the mandatory legal controls.” And she stated, “One of the arbitrary decisions is that the loans granted by banks to their customers come mainly from the deposits of their depositors, and therefore the unity of criteria must be applied between the debt of banks towards depositors and the debt of depositors towards banks, while many judicial rulings oblige banks to collect their loans granted.” Primarily in foreign currency in Lebanese pounds on the basis of an unrealistic exchange rate that ranges between 1500 LL per dollar, leading to fictitious exchange rates on the one hand, while on the other hand, provisions are issued obligating banks to pay depositors’ deposits in cash and in foreign currency, and they also refuse to consider bank checks. Those with secured supplies and withdrawn from banks on their credit account with the Banque du Liban, as a means of payment.
She pointed out that “it is also an arbitrary judicial practice, to accept cases against banks from non-depositors with them and submit them to certain judges who are not competent, neither qualitatively nor spatially chosen because of their anti-bank ideological views, in addition to the refusal of some judges to inform their response requests and lawsuits against the state about their actions.” Their hands had to be removed from the files, and these judges tried to give Law No. 306/2022 a retroactive effect dating back to 1988, contrary to the text of the law and the will of the legislator.If the banks adhere to the letter of Law No. 306/2022, they will be falsely accused of the crime of money laundering, while the prosecution is Exclusively pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph B of Article 8 of Law No. 306 mentioned in the crime of “refraining from providing information”, with the impact of this on the bank’s reputation and its relations, especially with correspondent banks, regardless of the invalidity of the decision. Is this how deposits are protected?” That “addressing this imbalance in the proper functioning of the judicial public facility has become urgent.”
