Alvarez & Marsal still working on BDL forensic audit report

Alvarez & Marsal has yet to release any official report or communicate with the Finance Ministry about the forensic financial audit it carried out at the Banque du Liban (BDL).

However, sources in the ministry confirmed that the company is still working on putting up the initial report, and members continue to frequently visit their office in the Finance Ministry to review some of the data provided by BDL.

Furthermore, the company had assured Finance Minister Youssef Khalil that he would receive the initial report before the end of this year, noting that it was scheduled for delivery on September 27, especially since the company had begun its work on June 27. 

The Finance Minister will examine this report with a specialist team to determine whether any errors have been found in the accounts through the data included.

This initial report will also address BDL work between 2015 and 2021. Alvarez & Marsal will, however, be paid the remaining 10% of the contract's overall value, or $2,700,000, when it submits its report.

No information has been leaked regarding what Alvarez & Marsal discovered in BDL up to this time. Still, sources monitoring the situation have noted that the report may not reveal any bank fraud.
Thus, it is not expected that the Alvarez & Marsal report will be different from the reports of the accounting and financial auditing firms.

However, interested actors have called to wait and avoid speculating on this matter, especially since this preliminary report will only touch on a portion of the issue.

The concerned government authorities would ask the company to resume operations and clarify more information if any gaps were reported in BDL work.