Lebanon passes law to lift banking secrecy
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm said on Thursday that the Lebanese cabinet has approved a draft law to lift banking secrecy, MTV local TV channel reported.
Also, Lebanon’s financial prosecutor Ali Ibrahim froze the assets and properties of 20 Lebanese banks.
Lebanon has lately witnessed a shortage in U.S. currency due to transfers made by big depositors to foreign countries despite the unofficial capital control imposed on small depositors.
Protesters who have started an demonstration since Oct. 17 last year have been calling for investigations into the transfers that took place and resulted in low liquidity in U.S. dollars at the Lebanese banks.
Protesters accused banks owners of assisting big depositors to transfer their money to other countries, leading to the current financial crisis in Lebanon.
Protesters have also been demanding for the fight against corruption and investigations into the bank accounts of Lebanese officials inside Lebanon and in foreign countries after the country’s public debt reached an alarming level of over 90 billion dollars without witnessing any projects being implemented in the country.
The new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Hassan Diab vowed to fight against corruption and adopt reforms necessary to deal with the current financial and economic crisis.
