American Sanctions Expected on Businessmen, Bankers and Politicians for Corruption

It is no longer clear what the Governor of the Banque du Liban wants to do in order to evade a necessary trial for all the crimes he committed during the quarter of a century of violations that caused a major financial collapse in Lebanon. We no longer know what he wants yet to cover more games and bridles in order to escape the responsibility of today's catastrophe. We no longer understand how it will blackmail all authorities, blackmail the crushed people, and use all the demons of politics, media and security in Lebanon, in order to cover up his crimes, which must be turned into a clear indictment that is being raised not only in Lebanon, but in other countries as well.

Three years ago, President Michel Aoun was willing not to renew Riad Salameh in the governorship of the Banque du Liban. But the latter did not leave a door for pressure except and used it, with the assistance of all those who provided them with services in Lebanon and abroad. The bribed media became crying about the possibility of his departure, and the banks launched the largest pressure campaign against all those in power to not harm him. Arab and Western embassies moved day and night to warn of the dangers of leaving his post. Markets moved in the form of withdrawals and smuggling funds out of Lebanon under the title that the man is the source of confidence. All of this was necessary in order for the ruling team, since the civil war to stop, to press Aoun to accept that he remained in power. On the sidelines of the renewal, those who fell from the president’s vicinity, politicians, businessmen, bankers, merchants, media professionals and experts, fell and began talking about the importance of the governor remaining in office. However, within 3 years, a lie remained in the world only and was presented by Salama to President Aoun.

Frankly, it must be said today that President Aoun has eaten the beating, and with him whoever believes that Riad Salameh has a solution in his hands or that he wants a solution, in what is, with what and who he represents, the origin of the calamity and the problem. It is he who can be said today that he needs to examine capabilities to ensure his ability to manage this crisis. But Aoun's position is not enough, because the rest of the country's staff do not move a finger. Neither the House of Representatives, which never came to account, nor the Finance Ministry, which deals with it gently or perhaps more. Nor the political forces that fear him, because opinion polls "prepared in advance" say that men are the most popular among people. But who is a key partner to Aoun in the responsibility for keeping Salama in office, he is the "Hezbollah" that did not exert enough effort to say "stop enough" blatantly to all its allies!

After all that happened, Salameh looks at the people, in a miserable media episode, to throw more lies, and to decide unilaterally, that banks can convert deposits in foreign currencies into deposits in Lebanese pounds. He went back to make it clear that he did not say to transfer the deposit, but he said that banks have the right to pay these deposits in pounds. And just as he said that there is no law to legislate restrictions on capital control operations, here are the banks, with his support, that prevent any transfers except as desired. And if anyone mentioned mentioning the restructuring of the public debt and striking out part of it, under the title "Hair Cutting", he cried that it is impossible. While leaving the situation to turn practically into a process of hair removal, but at the expense of the small depositors only, and to cover the biggest complicity with the banking sector, which turns day after day, into a major sector that controls the price of the national currency as well, and to be an unspecified partner even for banks.

Above all, Riad Salameh is conducting an unprecedented shameless act by those responsible for a major national crisis. He prepares a book and sends it to the Minister of Finance demanding exceptional powers to organize and standardize bank procedures in order to apply them in a fair and equal manner to depositors and clients all. And justifies his request that the Bank of Lebanon does not have sufficient powers to carry out these procedures on its own.

In the book whose version was leaked quickly, a reference is mentioned above that it is addressed to "His Excellency the Minister of Finance", but the "genius writer" of this book ends the message by addressing "your country." The truth is that Salama, who knows that he can do everything necessary on his own to compel banks to take measures that preserve the rights of people, tried to throw responsibility on others. First, he tried his luck, with his most prominent partner, President Saad Hariri, who decided that his phone would only be answered by direct contact from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah calling him to head the government again. Therefore, Salameh found himself obliged to address the Minister of Finance, and he went directly to President Michel Aoun. The latter heard the man, and told him that he had to prepare the necessary circulars, and that the palace deposited a copy of it before issuing it to be examined and ascertained to suit the interests of the people. This is something Safety does not want to do. He does not want any kind of control over him.

In practice, no one in the Palestinian Authority will cooperate with safety requests. But this situation may not be prolonged, because the existing authority, which knows neither the change of its working tools nor the logic of its thinking, may return to collusion with it as it did and did a quarter of a century ago. As for the House of Representatives, which is supposed to initiate a preventive measure in which it warns the government against any coverage of illegal safety requests, it considers itself unimportant as long as no draft or law proposal is referred to it. This is the case for the Finance and Budget Committee, while those in charge of the Administration and Justice Committee are studying what can be done. Note that the President of the Council is able to explain to everyone that oversight of government action is not a final check in everything. Rather, it is a censorship that sometimes imposes preventive measures, especially when it comes to what is left of people's livelihood.

But what is most important, and which the existing authorities must expedite its implementation, is the application of Article 19 of the Law on Monetary and Credit related to the dismissal of the governor and his deputies. Which says that “except in the case of voluntary resignation, the ruler cannot be dismissed from his position except for a health defect duly established or for a breach of his duties in what was meant by the first chapter of Chapter Three of the Penal Code, or in violation of the provisions of Article 20, or for a fatal mistake in the conduct of Business". So what did the man do during this period of his occupation of the position of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, could not be included in the "fatal mistake in the conduct of business", if not "breaching the duties of his job?"

As for the work of the Association of Banks, especially its president Salim Sfeir, and some of its members, and some of its major shareholders, especially those whose names appear in the list of “Smugglers of Private Funds between October 17 and October 30, 2019, this is a hadith of his most serious facts, especially that the Americans Suddenly, without warning, they decided to apply the law (Global Magnitsky Act), a law adopted during the reign of former President Barack Obama to punish the Russian figures responsible for the death of Accountant Sergei Magnitsky in his prison. In December 2016, the law was activated to become universal and allowed the US government to "punish corrupt government officials." According to "Al-Akhbar" information, a list of at least 21 names, among a preliminary list of about 65 names for businessmen, bankers and government officials, "The United States is investigating the possibility of their involvement in corruption and illegal activities that have caused harm in their countries and allows the United States government to pursue them by the rule of law The aforementioned.