Bank sector: Oweidat’s recent memo halts Judge Aouns investigative...

3^min

Months of escalating tensions between the Association of Banks and the judiciary, especially with the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeals Public Prosecutor, Judge Ghada Aoun, have led to a recent development. Aoun has been pursuing violators of banking laws and demanding the lifting of banking secrecy for some of the offenders, including presidents, board members, and directors. The banks argue that her actions are excessive and violate the law, which may harm the banking industry as a whole. This disagreement was one of the main reasons for the two-week-long bank strike.

On Tuesday, the Attorney General, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, issued a memo stating that there was no longer any justification for requesting the lifting of banking secrecy during the initial investigations conducted by the competent public prosecutors. Instead, he said that it was sufficient to request banking information. Oweidat followed his initial memo with another addressed to the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeals Public Prosecutor, who is currently investigating several banks, asking her to temporarily halt her investigative and inquiry procedures until the cases against them are resolved.

Aoun is scheduled to meet with the Attorney General on Thursday to express her respect for his directives. However, she also believes, as she told LBCI, that the text cannot be interpreted as it is written, especially as there is currently no public body in the Court of Cassation to decide on her dispute with some banks. Therefore, the decision does not conform to Article 751, which Judge Oweidat based it on.

The banks' initial reaction to the memo was somewhat satisfied as their sources saw it as a road-map for how the judiciary should deal with the banking secrecy law after the recent amendments made to it. They feel that it puts an end to the judiciary's improvisation. The banks will consult with legal experts to determine the implications of this memo on their pending cases with Judge Ghada Aoun.

The caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, welcomed this legal step, saying that it is a fundamental move towards addressing the judicial malfunction and stopping a dangerous path of using the judiciary to settle political scores. It was never intended to protect wrongdoers, he added.