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The electricity sector, the Ministry of Energy and the subsidies have siphoned over $30 billion off the Central Bank’s (BDL) deposits, according to the forensic audit report by Alvarez and Marsal.
The report indicates that, between 2010 and 2021, $47 billion were spent from the reserves, in other words, from the citizens’ deposits. It also shows that another $24 billion were spent on electricity and the Ministry of Energy, in addition to over $7 billion to cover subsidies.
In this context, the question that arises is, who is responsible for the squandering of the foreign exchange reserves deposited at the BDL? Is it the ministers, the directors-general, senior civil servants and certain political groups who should be held responsible for this vast waste?
Between 2010 and 2021, $18 billion were used to buy fuel for Lebanon’s Electricity Company, Electricité du Liban (EDL), in the form of advances. The treasury did not recover a single penny out of it. Who is responsible for this? Why was there no collection of electricity bills? And why was there no increase in the price of the Kilowatt, thus making EDL sell production at a loss? Which companies, individuals and politicians benefitted from these $18 billion? It would probably have been better if power plants were shut down for a year, and these billions were used to build new ones that would illuminate the entire Middle East. Will there be any accountability for the people who wanted EDL to keep receiving non-repayable treasury advances, to prevent citizens from being plunged in total darkness? Instead, citizens sank in poverty after losing their deposits. What about the multi-million-dollar dams that served absolutely no purpose?
Will those who supported the subsidization policy, which resulted in the impoverishment of the Lebanese people by the Central Bank, be brought to justice? Why all this stubbornness? Which politicians, traders and businessmen earned the revenues from subsidies and smuggled goods?
Answers to these questions must be provided as a first step towards recovering the depositors’ lost money. Diverting the subject would mean distracting the public opinion and letting the real perpetrators get away with their many shortcomings.
According to relevant information, the Minister of Justice in the caretaker government, Henri Khoury, is considering transferring the financial and forensic audit report written by Alvarez and Marsal – pertaining to the Lebanese Central Bank – to the judiciary, and asking the prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Ghassan Oueidat, the financial prosecutor, Ali Ibrahim, and the president of the affairs committee, Helena Iskandar, to accelerate the process.
