Professor Hayat Matar Abdel Baki delivered a speech on behalf of the Lebanese Expatriate Depositors’ Union during the protest action carried out today in front of Banque du Liban, stressing that the depositors’ issue can no longer bear further delay or procrastination, amid the continued withholding of اللبنانيين’ funds and depriving them of their basic rights for years.
Abdel Baki affirmed, on behalf of the union, that depositors’ rights remain a national and humanitarian priority that must not be marginalized no matter how numerous the crises, calling for urgent and fair measures that do justice to depositors and preserve their dignity and financial rights.
She also stressed rejection of any encroachment on Banque du Liban’s reserves under any pretext, calling for an end to discrimination among depositors, the unification of circulars and raising their ceilings in line with the size of deposits and the difficult economic conditions faced by Lebanese at home and abroad.
She pointed to the need to address pending files related to the arbitrary closure of accounts and to stop imposing illegal conditions on depositors, stressing that the union will continue its movements and escalation until financial justice is achieved and rights are fully restored.
It has been written for us to live through suffering, just as destruction and instability have been written for this country. We have met many times before, for the same illness and the same problem persist. Six years have passed since depositors’ money was seized and they were deprived of their most basic rights, with neither a serious plan nor even a temporary remedy that meets the depositor’s minimum needs.
We know that the state is preoccupied today with the files of peace and security, but the issue of depositors remains one of the fundamental issues that cannot tolerate delay and must be addressed urgently, especially at this exceptional stage the homeland—and indeed the whole world—is going through, in a way that ensures acceptable justice.
Here, it is necessary to highlight the following points:
• 1- The reserves belong to and are the right of depositors alone. We will not allow anyone to lay hands on Banque du Liban’s reserves under any pretext or justification.
• 2- We ask Banque du Liban not to discriminate among depositors, to unify the circulars and raise their ceilings in proportion to the value of the deposit, provided that the minimum becomes $3,000 per month.
• 3- We stress the need to expand the circle of beneficiaries of the circulars among legitimate depositors. It is no longer acceptable to invoke and hide behind Circular 154, which banks use as a pretext to deprive depositors of their most basic rights. We were led to believe that this circular was aimed at those officials who smuggled billions, in order to recover 15% of those funds, only to find that it has fallen on the ordinary class of depositors who used part of their money before the crisis, while the owners of billions escaped.
This approach is no longer acceptable. We demand that Banque du Liban correct this course immediately, and we also stress the need to take bold decisions, including examining the option of selling part of the gold, because depositors and their families are no longer able to bear this injustice, especially amid Lebanon’s miserable economic situation and the difficult global conditions.
• 4- What is required of Banque du Liban is to resolve the crisis of those whose accounts were closed unjustly and arbitrarily by the banks, as well as those from whom signatures were extracted on illegitimate clauses when reactivating accounts or benefiting from the circulars.
As for the financial gap law, we will not go into details today, but we have previously expressed our clear position rejecting this draft in its current form. It must be radically amended; otherwise, it will lead to further collapse and may set this country back many long years.
Our cause is just, and we will not remain silent about it no matter how great the hardships or how the conspirators conspire.
What is required today from everyone: participation, cohesion, and solidarity.
Long live Lebanon, a free, independent, liberated and united country for all its people, without any allegiance either to the East or to the West.
