The President of the Republic indirectly responded to the Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Rahi who had linked the forensic audit of the Bank of Lebanon to the formation of a new government headed by Saad Hariri, close to the governor of the central bank Riad Salamé and politicizing thus the record of the investigation to determine the real size of losses in the public banking sector.
General Michel Aoun thus estimated that corrupt people fear the forensic audit when the innocent are satisfied.
Last week, the head of state directly attacked the governor of the Banque du Liban in a speech addressed to the Nation.
The President of the Republic began by recalling 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.
From April 2020, the Maronite patriarch was thus declared surprised by “a final decision against the governor of the Banque du Liban, without even hearing him or giving him the legitimate right to defend himself”, while he had been put in the spotlight for his role in the degradation of the parity of the Lebanese pound against the dollar and accused of being involved in operations to manipulate the price of the Lebanese pound, a case judicial still in progress.