Amman-

 "Overnight, the life's twilight evaporated, after saving it in a Lebanese bank operating in Jordan. Unfortunately, the bank was sold and its branches closed in the Kingdom, and we cannot sue it before the Jordanian judiciary."

With burning and pain, Jordanian investor Salim Al-Awadi talks about the failure of his attempts to recover his savings from a Lebanese bank, after he deposited them in one of the branches operating in Jordan, until he was threatened with expulsion from his home and auctioned due to the accumulation of debts on him.

Al-Awadi began investing in Lebanese banks operating in Jordan with a deposit with the Société Générale du Liban 10 years ago. With Lebanon entering an economic crisis, he tried to recover his savings, "but the bank refused that."

Al-Awadi told Al-Jazeera Net, "I tried to file a case against the bank before the Jordanian judiciary, but I failed because the contracts stipulate litigation between the two parties before the Lebanese judiciary, so the deposits are in jeopardy."

Al-Awadi is similar to many savers;

Ahmed Latouf invested a deposit in Bank Audi in Jordan since 2015, and with the beginning of the Lebanese economic crisis, he tried in 2019 to restore that deposit, but he was only able to recover $ 55,000, and $ 750,000 remained with the bank in Lebanon, according to his interview with Al Jazeera Net.

Latouf and Al-Awadi appeal to their country's authorities to intervene to restore those savings, after increasing their fears of the "evaporation" of those deposits, in light of the escalation of the economic crisis in Lebanon, and the increasing restrictions imposed by the Lebanese authorities on banks.

Depositors demand the intervention of the Jordanian authorities to preserve and restore their deposits from Lebanese banks (communication sites)

official move

The official move toward this crisis was initiated by Representative Khalil Attia by adopting a memorandum signed by 30 Jordanian deputies calling on the authorities to "take action at all levels to recover the funds of Jordanian investors deposited in Lebanese banks, estimated at $1.2 billion."

Attia told Al Jazeera Net, "The Jordanians have the right over their government to invest in the bilateral relations between Jordan and Lebanon to restore their financial rights in Lebanese banks, as Arab countries move in the same field with the Lebanese authorities, and these deposits return to companies, institutions and individuals, and they are now frozen on the recommendation of the Central Bank of Lebanon. ".

According to experts and bankers, the high interest rates and financial returns on deposits in Lebanese banks attracted Jordanian investors, compared to the interest rates in local banks, especially since Lebanese banks used to grant interest rates between 16 and 20% of the capital, which made depositors engage in investment in deposits on their own. Calculate the high degree of risk.

In response to the parliamentary memorandum, a Jordanian official source told Al Jazeera Net, "The government does not have the authority to protect Jordanians' deposits in foreign banks, whether Arab or foreign, and what governs the relationship between the two parties is the banking contracts signed between the depositor and the bank, and those contracts specify which judiciary the two parties resort to." in the event of a conflict between them.

Memorandum of Representative Khalil Attia regarding requests to recover funds from Lebanese banks (Jordanian Press)

The source added that the official authorities concerned with these issues did not receive any complaints from depositors, whether individuals or companies, related to their savings in Lebanese banks, stressing that the nature of the contract between the depositor and the bank prohibits the intervention of any third party in favor of the customer.

According to specialists, intervention for the benefit of customers in banking contracts concluded between the depositor and the bank takes place if the official state institutions are guarantors of those deposits, through the state’s central bank or an institution concerned with deposits, as is the case in Jordan to protect depositors’ deposits.

Reservation at a bank

Judicially, last Wednesday, the Amman Court of First Instance (the Economic Chamber) issued a decision to seize the movable and immovable funds of the “Societe Generale de Lebanon” Jordan branch, including shares, profits and any other distributions, in addition to what was acquired by Capital Bank of The funds of Societe Generale de Lebanon, the Jordan branch, and the decision was issued in response to an urgent request by the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization.

According to the Abu-Ghazaleh International Group, the aforementioned request was submitted with the aim of recovering Abu-Ghazaleh deposits in Société Générale Lebanon, which amounted to $40 million, in addition to the interest due on them according to the deposit contracts, which the bank has refrained from paying so far.

It is noteworthy that the “Capital Bank” group, the Jordan branch, had acquired the share of “Societe Generale de Lebanon” operating in Jordan in a purchase process last year, with the new management of “Capital Bank” knowing that the Lebanese bank owes it to Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, and between the two parties there are issues to recover funds. The last one is with the bank.

Limited options

The options for Jordanian depositors do not appear to be numerous or available;

The options - according to the former Jordanian Minister of Economy Youssef Mansour - are very limited, especially in light of the "exacerbation of the economic crisis in Lebanon", and their only option is "to file cases before the Lebanese judiciary", because the contracts signed between the two parties determine the litigation between the two parties before the Lebanese judiciary.

Mansour added in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that "the high interest rate of Lebanese banks has tempted Jordanian investors to deposit their savings there."

Mansour believes that the Jordanian authorities "do not have any options to save these millions."

On the other hand, jurists believe that diplomatic protection within international law gives countries the right to take diplomatic action against another country, on behalf of the rights and interests of its citizens being harmed by the other country.

That protection was confirmed - according to experts - in various cases of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice, which is a discretionary right of the state, and may take any form that is not prohibited by international law, and may include consular procedures, negotiations with the other state, political and economic pressure, and judicial, arbitral or other procedures. It is a form of peaceful settlement of disputes.