BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that a forensic audit of the central bank was vital to combat corruption, and that he would get it back on track after the consultancy contracted to carry it out withdrew.
Aoun said “interest-driven roadblocks” had derailed the audit, which is a key condition for foreign donors to help Lebanon out of a deep financial crisis that has posed the biggest threat to its stability since its 1975-1990 civil war.
Among Lebanon’s multiple crises are growing poverty, a political vacuum, coronavirus and the fallout from a massive explosion at Beirut port in August that killed 200 people.
“Our reality today is not promising,” the president said in a televised speech to mark Independence Day, adding that Lebanon was a prisoner of corruption, political scheming and external dictations.
“If we want statehood, then we must fight corruption ... and this begins by imposing the forensic financial audit,” he said, adding he would not “back off” on the issue.
The caretaker finance minister announced on Friday that the restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal had pulled out of the audit because the central bank had not provided all the information required to carry out the task, citing bank secrecy.
Lebanon has not yet formed a new government since the last one was brought down by the blast. Saad Al-Hariri, the Sunni prime minister-designate under a sectarian power-sharing agreement, is struggling to form a cabinet amid turf wars.
Lebanon’s president pledges to revive forensic audit of central bank
https://arab.news/r2xc8
Lebanon’s president pledges to revive forensic audit of central bank
- Among Lebanon’s multiple crises are growing poverty, a political vacuum and the coronavirus
- “If we want statehood, then we must fight corruption ... and this begins by imposing the forensic financial audit,” Aoun said
Britain says it and France bombed suspected Daesh arms dump in Syria
- Western aircraft have been conducting patrols to stop a resurgence of the Daesh militant group that ruled parts of Syria until 2019
LONDON: Britain’s and France’s air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Daesh group in Syria, Britain’s defense ministry said.
Western aircraft have been conducting patrols to stop a resurgence of the Daesh militant group that ruled parts of Syria until 2019. Intelligence analysis identified an underground facility believed to be used to store weapons and explosives in mountains north of Palmyra, Britain said.
“Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility; whilst detailed assessment is now underway, initial indications are that the target was engaged successfully,” Britain’s defense ministry said in a statement.
Britain said the area was “devoid of any civilian habitation” before the attack and that all its aircraft had returned safely.
“This action shows our UK leadership, and determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence of Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East,” British Defense Secretary John Healey said, referring to Daesh by an alternative name.
Britain said it used Typhoon FGR4 combat jets to bomb the target, supported by a Voyager refueling tanker.
