Middle Eastern rich people who deposited their money in Lebanese banks are seeking to get it back by circumventing measures to control the informal capital that banks impose on the Lebanese.
In a report published by the French newspaper Le Monde (lemonde), the authors Julian Bouiseau and Veronique Chaucron stated that on October 4, 2019, the Lebanese economy had not yet collapsed, and the popular uprising had not yet broken out, and Nabih Nasser believed that he had $ 20 million in his account with him. Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon.
The young man of Lebanese origin, born in 1993 in Bulgaria, benefited a lot from his parents' wealth, and at the age of 26, he became one of the managers of his father's company, and he runs the Burj football club, which his father also owns, as well as a real estate developer.
In October 2019, the amount of $ 20 million became a concern, as it is difficult in Beirut to find a dollar, and the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, was obligated to admit that “the demand for dollars has increased,” but he played down the seriousness of the matter.
Salameh explained on Lebanese state television that this increase "may" be due to "local", which is "gas stations, bakeries and pharmacies because of the dollarization of the economy at the expense of the Lebanese pound."
On the blacklist
The economic fabric in Lebanon began at the end of last year to collapse, and the billions that flowed over decades in accounts at interest rates ranging from 12-14% to 20% were diverted to attract dollars into a large amount of debt that is difficult for the state to repay, and the percentage exceeds 150% of the country's GDP , Which is one of the highest levels in the world, and Lebanon decided to default.
On October 1, 2019, the American Moody's Corporation announced the "monitoring" of the sovereign debt rating, and on the fourth of the same month, Nabih Nasser went to the St. Charles branch of Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon to withdraw his money, and his request was rejected.
Officially, this has nothing to do with the lack of liquidity, as the Lebanese bank doubts the source of the funds and suspects that his father, Fadi Nasser, is the true beneficiary of the account, because in September 2018 the US Treasury Department blacklisted Father Fadi Nasser, accusing him of delivering oil and gas to the Syrian regime through His company, "Nasco Polymers & Chemicals", and his other company, "sonex" for investments (sonex investments) based in the UAE, and in May 2019 the Central Bank ordered Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon to convert Nasser dollars into Lebanese pounds to escape US sanctions. .
Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon did not immediately respond to the doubts burdening its client, and it received a warning from the Special Investigation Committee of the Lebanese Monetary Agency on March 8, 2019, and after a month and a half, it did not hesitate to open an account for its client in which ($ 20 million) was deposited. 6.75% interest over 6 months.
Rentier economy
According to the authors of the article, perhaps Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon wanted to avoid the bleeding of dollars, and Nabih Nasir's money may have been suspicious.
The dispute between Nasser and the bank summarizes the difficulties experienced by Lebanon's rentier economy and the stark disparities that became untenable after the Beirut port explosion.
The Lebanese case eventually moved to France at the end of 2019, and it occurred to his Lebanese lawyer, Jad Kobeissi, that "if the bank refuses to repay what it owes to its client, then why does it not resort to France?"
In July 2018, Société Générale Bank in Lebanon bought the "Riccolio" financial company, a wealth management group, and this plan actually succeeded. In November 2019, the execution judge at the Grand Court of First Instance in Paris allowed the young Lebanese real estate developer to carry out a precautionary seizure of $ 20 million in shares of the private bank's subsidiary.
However, the conflict has not ended yet, as only the Lebanese judicial system is able to support either side, but the French measures have taken an exceptional measure to push Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon to negotiate with its client.
A settlement was proposed at the beginning of February 2020, so the Lebanese bank resorted to the French courts to demand the lifting of the seizure, citing the mysterious origin of Nabih Nasser’s funds, but on the eve of the hearing session, Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon sent a check to its client for an amount of (32 billion pounds), i.e. the official exchange rate in lira. Lebanese for his credit ($ 20 million).
Since the end of the summer of 2019, the value of the Lebanese currency has decreased, and Lebanese banks no longer receive their customers the dollars they deposited, but rather Lebanese pounds at a price of 3500 pounds to the dollar (on the black market 7 thousand pounds for one dollar), so the check was not cashed, and the young millionaire did not accept "for a lesser amount." 4 times the amount deposited in the account, "confirms his French lawyer, Victor Ciampi.
Informal control measures
The French judiciary helped the young Lebanese in his case. Societe Generale Bank in Lebanon owns the French Societe Generale Bank with 17% of its capital, and on the tenth of August, the Parisian judge, Cecile Tarras, refused to lift the seizure of the capital of the financial company "Riculieu", saying that "it did not In any case, the “decision to freeze the assets of Nasser’s account has been proven, and that it“ has not been established ”that he did not comply with the announcement of the source of the funds.
The newspaper quoted a banker who follows the development of the sector in Lebanon as saying, "In practice, the Lebanese banks have gone bankrupt and no longer have capital, because they have debts that the state is no longer able to pay, in accordance with international auditing standards."
Lebanese banks have persisted by imposing informal capital control measures without any law enabling them to do so, and Lebanese bank withdrawals have been restricted since December 2019, and since March 2020, account holders can no longer obtain dollars.
A source close to the resigned government says that "a few prominent personalities have benefited from relations with bank heads and were able to transfer their money abroad, especially Switzerland."
Nabih Nasser tried to take another path using French justice, as his situation will not find sympathy among the ranks of the Lebanese mired in poverty, and dollars have poured into Lebanon from all sides in recent years due to the unreal interest rates imposed by its banks, everyone now wants to recover his share, the rich in the East. Middle as well as corporate.