Lebanon – After the International Monetary Fund stated that a prior draught still had serious flaws, the Lebanese Parliament adopted yet another set of modifications to a banking confidentiality bill as the country’s authorities work to emerge from their financial crisis and secure funding from the fund.
Before Lebanon can receive three billion dollars to ease its economic crisis—one of the worst in modern history—the International Monetary Fund has established a list of measures it must carry out, including changing the banking confidentiality law.
Late in July, Parliament approved a standard law for banking secrecy, but Lebanese President Michel Aoun sent the text back to Parliament so that the revisions could be made as suggested by the IMF.
On Tuesday, the deputies adopted the most recent draught despite harsh criticism from independent lawmakers and other observers who claimed they had not also carried out the adjustments suggested by the International Monetary Fund.
Banking secrecy is still not addressed in the most recent proposal as a whole. While the new draught permits additional government institutions to request general information on a group of transactions, the prior draught of some government agencies only permitted to be raised in the event of criminal investigations.
Lawyer Karim Daher, Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Ware Affairs of the Bar Association in Beirut, said that the new draft will not provide the required transparency.
“They want to ensure that we are unaware of any transfers between the political class and bank owners. They seek all means possible to avoid responsibility “explained he.
Mark Dou, a parliamentarian for the first time, said he attended the financial committee session on the new draft.
According to him, numerous lawmakers commented on the draught and why they shouldn’t be approved in this manner, and then the deputies discovered that the draught was on the council’s schedule for a vote.
It still needs to be accepted by the law. The presidency of Aoun expires on October 31.
The fund has voiced dissatisfaction about Lebanon’s “poor progress” in implementing the list of reforms outlined in an agreement reached at the expert level in recent weeks.
Some observers think that the conclusion of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Israel will help to pay Lebanon to discover new financial resources through the exploitation of energy resources, while others think that the political turmoil in Lebanon will make the issue more complex.
As Riyad Salama, the governor of the Bank of Lebanon, faced allegations of money laundering and unlawful gain, Lebanon was afflicted by the corruption epidemic, which was one of the causes of its economic and financial crises.
Last April, the Lebanese judiciary opened a local investigation into Salama’s wealth and its source after it was targeted in an investigation in Switzerland on suspicion of his involvement and brother in cases of embezzlement “more than 300 million US dollars in a manner that harms the Bank of Lebanon. ” In addition, Salama is the subject of legal complaints in France and Britain, two nations in Europe.
Following IMF pressure, Lebanon passes changes to the banking confidentiality law.
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