“Akhbar al-Yawm” agency
Not announcing the report is in the interest of the Bank of Lebanon
With a statement confirming that the assets of the Banque du Liban’s safe of gold (ingots and metal coins) are completely identical, in quantity and quality, to the entries recorded in the accounting records of the Banque du Liban, the governor of the central Riad Salameh announced the completion of the audit process of the bank’s safe deposits of gold conducted by a specialized and professional international auditing firm in this field, which was selected and assigned by the bank’s external control commissioner, in coordination and agreement with the International Monetary Fund", stressing that "this step comes at the request of the International Monetary Fund, and to enhance transparency in the assets of the Banque du Liban".
What are the goals of this step at this time, specifically after 25 days of the presidential vacuum?
A financial reference pointed out via "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency that Salameh proved the existence of gold and statistics was obtained under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund, and therefore he wanted to confirm the involvement of the fund in all its steps, especially after several evaluations conducted by the latter: in 2020 for the previous three years, and in 2021 for the last five years.
He said: confirming the existence of gold is one of the characteristics and good of central banks, that is, they are honest in what they say, and this honesty has a reflection on the economy, if gold was minus one gram, the lira would have collapsed significantly, knowing that what prevents the collapse of the national currency is gold and the mandatory reserve estimated at 10.3 billion dollars, as announced by Finance Minister Youssef Khalil about 10 days ago.
In response to a question, the reference pointed out that it is possible to proceed from the confirmation of gold assets to the question of the fate of the Forensic audit of the accounts of the central bank, asking: and who said the Forensic audit has not been completed?
Here, the source stated that everyone knows that Alvarez & Marsal, after signing the contract between it and the Lebanese state, obtained all the information it requested from the central, and was supposed to announce its report in the third week of last September, specifically on the 27th of it, which means that there are 3 possibilities:
First: the company did not do its job, and this is a big mistake on its part and exposes it to prosecution and affects its reputation.
Secondly: the report was completed, but the results were not suitable for the party that requested it, so it was his choice not to announce its content.
Third: the results of the audit, which have not been announced, at least lead to the belief that there are no irregularities at the Bank of Lebanon, which transfers responsibility to other state institutions.
Thus, the reference added: the law approved by the House of Representatives on the lifting of banking secrecy should be applied first by state institutions. There are two points to be based on here: the words of the chairman of the finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, about the existence of an estimated amount of 27 billion dollars unaccounted for, and the Audit Bureau, which speaks in its report about 6 billion dollars wasted at the Ministry of communications.
It should be noted that the gold reserves amount to 286.8 tons, about 60 percent of which is in the coffers of the central bank and the rest in the United States of America.
The Gold Safe is also not on public display, and there is a reservation on it for security reasons. "In each period of time, an inventory of gold is conducted, in which four persons participate: the governor of the Bank of Lebanon, the director of the Treasury, the deputy director of the Treasury and the director of the inspection. The inventory is carried out in the presence of the government commissioner to the Bank of Lebanon. There is no law or text specifying the date of its holding".
In 1986, Lebanese law No. 42 was issued, which stipulates an absolute prohibition on the disposal of gold assets at the Bank of Lebanon or on its account, regardless of the nature of such disposal, whether directly or indirectly, except by legislative text issued by the House of Representatives.
Last January, the Gold Council published its report on the world's central banks' gold reserves, and the data showed that Lebanon ranks second in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia.