Lebanon’s Fransabank closes all branches after judicial order
March 16, 2022, 3:50 pm

Lebanon’s Fransabank closes all branches after judicial order

Fransabank Group in Lebanon

The Arab News reported, a Fransabank source told Reuters, Lebanon’s Fransabank on Wednesday closed all of its branches in the country following a judicial order freezing its assets based on a lawsuit filed by a depositor.

Lebanese banks have frozen most savers out of their hard currency deposits since a financial meltdown in 2019, but the controls were never formalized in law and have been challenged in courts.

His lawyer Rami Ollaik said that the judicial order required Fransabank to reopen the account of Egyptian depositor Ayad Ibrahim and pay out his deposit in cash, or else the bank’s assets would be seized.

The judge who issued the order and Ibrahim could not be reached for comment.

The Fransabank source said that following the order the bank would not be able to make any payments, including of salaries, because its assets have been frozen. The source said, the bank has roughly 50 branches.

Lebanon-Armenian street (File photo: Pixabay)

The Fransabank source said: “We closed because the order is on all the belongings of the bank, including the safes, at the tellers, where you can get the cash. I can’t get (cash), and I can’t receive."

Fransabank had issued Ibrahim a cheque for the value of his deposit and he was therefore no longer a client, the Fransabank source said, adding that he had signed for the cheque at a notary.

Lebanon PM Najib Mikati will not run in May parliamentary election

A spokesperson for United For Lebanon, an anti-corruption group that is representing Ibrahim in the case, said he had “signed for the cheque but with reservation.”

Source: arabnews

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, British-Iranian woman leaves Iran Saudi Arabia’s King Salman receives new pacemaker battery, leaves hospital

Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.