Exclusif, "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency

The scene was repeated yesterday at the "BLC" branch in Antelias, where one of the depositors demanded to receive an amount from his deposit, and two hours later he left the branch after the manager promised to transfer the money within days.
This scene is likely to be repeated in any branch as long as, on the one hand, there are no solutions and, on the other hand, depositors' need for their money increases in light of the worsening crisis.

Faced with this reality, an economist believes that the solution is multifaceted, starting from Parliament to approve capital control, up to respecting the laws in force.

The expert proceeds in his explanation, via the agency "Akhbar Al-Yawm" from emphasizing the importance of protecting the banking sector in order to protect deposits and money, calling for speeding up the approval of capital control and agreeing on any formula on the condition of equality between all depositors.

In this context, he points out that breaking into banks does not lead to a solution, and the amounts received by intruders are considered insignificant compared to what depositors with foreign nationalities or residents abroad can receive if they file lawsuits before the courts where they are.

Here, the expert recalled the ruling issued last month by the French court of Appeal in favor of a Syrian Depositor residing in France in a case with the Lebanese bank Saradar regarding her frozen savings in the bank over the past three years, and the Syrian resident won her case, as the French judiciary forced the bank to return "three million" euros and additional funds in US dollars, which were frozen due to the ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon.

He said: if it is necessary to get this amount out of the banking sector, it is more expedient to distribute it to a significant number of small depositors, noting that spending of this kind keeps money inside the country, where everyone knows that small depositors are demanding deposits in order to conduct their daily affairs.
From here, the expert sees the importance of speeding up the completion of capital control.

As for the legal level, he pointed out that the intrusion is contrary to the law, explaining that if any bank is unable to pay deposits, there are laws in force that can be resorted to, including the appointment of an interim manager by a judicial decision or through the intervention of the Bank of Lebanon, based on what is stipulated by the law of subjecting banks that stop paying to special provisions.