Le ministre sortant des finances Ghazi Wazni a indiqué que le contrat de l’audit juricomptable des comptes de la Banque du Liban par le cabinet Alvarez & Marsal devrait être signé d’ici quelques jours alors qu’une cérémonie de passation s’est déroulée en présence de son successeur Youssef Khalil, par ailleurs directeur des opérations financières de la banque centrale. Il reviendra à ce dernier, souligne Ghazi Wazni de parapher ce contrat.
Il a également estimé qu’il n’existe aucune autre solution à la crise actuelle qu’à travers la relance des négociations avec le Fonds Monétaire International, qui exige la tenue d’un tel audit afin de chiffrer de manière exacte les pertes de la Banque du Liban.
Par ailleurs, le financement du programme d’aide aux personnes plus vulnérables sera assuré par la Banque Mondiale qui indique être prête.
Aussi, une décision de la chambre des députés est nécessaire afin de réglementer le contrôle informel des capitaux unilatéralement instaurés par l’association des banques du Liban
Le nouveau ministre des finances, Youssef Khalil a pour sa part indiqué qu’il s’agit désormais de “corriger et de restructurer la situation”‘, sans évoquer spécifiquement le secteur bancaire pourtant largement impacté par la crise financière.
“Le Liban doit travailler pour prouver sa valeur. C’est un grand défi pour nous, et la bataille est sérieuse”, a-t-il conclu.
Pour rappel, des sources institutionnelles étrangères ont fortement critiqué la nomination du directeur des opérations de la Banque du Liban comme nouveau ministre des finances, en raison d’un conflit d’intérêt entre ce dernier et l’audit juricomptable mené par le cabinet Alvarez & Marsal. Ainsi, il est également l’auteur de la fameuse politique d’ingénierie financière mise en oeuvre entre 2016 et 2018 et qui a été largement critiquée par le FMI lors de ses différentes visites de travail alors.
As a reminder, the Banque du Liban has long refused the forensic audit of the accounts of the Banque du Liban and then a final report within the next 6 months, under the pretext of regulations related to banking secrecy.
Banque du Liban’s losses could be greater than expected, say observers and experts from the International Monetary Fund, due to unorthodox practices such as Governor Riad Salamé’s recourse to unilaterally declaring large fiduciary profits to cover losses of the public institution for years.
According to a confidential audit document but made public by anonymous sources, the governor of the Banque du Liban would have announced nearly 6 billion in fiduciary profits in 2018 alone to cover losses of 6 billion dollars, mainly related to financial engineering operations which began in 2016.
As a reminder, this audit is deemed necessary to unblock negotiations with the International Monetary Fund after the declaration of a state of default in March 2020. Lebanon then hoped to obtain aid of 10 billion dollars.
However, the negotiations, now suspended, quickly stumbled over the capacity of the Lebanese authorities to carry out the reforms necessary for the release of international aid as well as on the issue of quantifying the losses of the financial sector. The Lebanese authorities estimate that its losses would reach 241 trillion Lebanese pounds on the basis of an exchange rate of 3600 LL / USD. , that is to say approximately 80 billion dollars, which the local banks refuse via the association of the banks of Lebanon or the Bank of Lebanon itself. This situation could be further aggravated with the deterioration of exchange rates since 2021, the Lebanese pound having lost more than 90% of its value against the dollar on the black market.
Henceforth, this encryption of the accounts of the Banque du Liban should be carried out by the firms Alvarez & Marsal for the forensic audit and by KPMG and Oliver Wyman for the normal audit . First approached to conduct the forensic audit, the Kroll cabinet, specializing in the matter was dismissed following pressure from the president of the chamber Nabih Berri, considering the company linked to the Hebrew state .
Thunderclap, the firm of Alvarez & Marsal announces its withdrawal from the forensic audit procedure , November 20, 2020 after the Banque du Liban refused to answer 57% of the questions asked , under the pretext of the credit and currency code or even legislation related to banking secrecy, plunging Lebanon into uncertainty. Indeed, this audit is now considered essential for obtaining assistance from the international community. The Ministry of Finance or that of justice considered that the contract did not violate the texts in force.
In his speech on the occasion of the 77th commemoration of the independence of Lebanon, General Michel Aoun indicates that the procedure should nevertheless go to the end and therefore envisages recourse to parliament to force the Banque du Liban to comply while the governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salamé would be in Paris in order, indicate some sources, to find an agreement with France, leader of the community international organization which remains intractable so far on the need to conduct a forensic audit of central bank accounts.
April 7, 2021, the President of the Republic General Michel Aoun publicly denounced the ill will of the Ministry of Finance Ghazi Wazni and the Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salamé without, however, directly naming them in the face of the various pitfalls and obstacles faced with the forensic audit of the Banque du Liban accounts and called for a meeting of the Hassan Diab government to examine this file and reveal the underside of what he almost describes. as a sabotage of the procedure.
The head of state also accused the governor of the Banque du Liban of practices contrary to local financial legislation, such as the use of private deposits as currency reserves. The President of the Republic recalled the various steps taken by certain parties to avoid this audit of the central bank. He also recalled that this procedure is not only a personal request of the Head of State but also of the international community, a prerequisite for the release of funds from CEDRE and the IMF.
In addition, in the face of the crisis, some correspondent banks of the BdL would have closed the accounts , indicates in a letter Riad Salamé.
Since then, Alvarez & Marsal has indicated that it is resuming the forensic audit process. On April 30, 2021, she indicated that she had received 95% of the answers to the questions asked so far . The remaining 5% were linked to private Lebanese banks but partly owned by the Banque du Liban, which would thus entrench itself under the cover of the banking secrecy law, which was nevertheless temporarily frozen by decision of Parliament for a period of time. eurobonds, some sources said at the time. For the time being, it is not known whether the cabinet has finally received these answers or not.
On September 1, the Presidency of the Republic signs the decree published by the Ministry of Finance allowing the financing and therefore the beginning of the procedures related to the forensic audit
On November 23, the Al Nidaa newspaper reveals that the cabinet is again considering withdrawing following the BoL’s persistent refusal to provide the necessary information as parliament considers a new bill to allow the lifting of banking secrecy until at the conclusion of the audit procedure.
Banks heavily impacted by the economic crisis
Lebanese banks, for their part, are heavily impacted by the economic crisis that Lebanon is going through. This crisis came to light with the famous foreign currency shortages in May 2019, first blamed on logistical problems by the Banque du Liban before finally recognizing that private institutions were facing major liquidity crises. . The ABL then implemented informal capital controls in November 2019.
So far, Lebanese banks generally refuse to allow depositors to freely dispose of their funds.
As early as 2019, many incidents had then broken out in bank branches, with depositors demanding to be able to withdraw their funds, which bank officials refused when the breakdown of losses in the banking sector, estimated at 69 billion dollars, should soon be detailed. according to the Mikati III government, 83 billion dollars according to the previous government, a figure close to that of the IMF and 103 billion dollars according to certain rating agencies.
In total, the top 14 Lebanese banks alone would require an injection of $ 65 billion, well beyond the possibilities of economic aid estimated at $ 26 billion. Also, haircuts on eurobonds or even on part of Lebanese bonds seem to become inevitable, despite the increase in equity on the decision of a circular from the Banque du Liban.
