BEIRUT: A proposal to expand sanctions on Hezbollah and some of its associates maybe drastically watered down before it is introduced in the U.S. Congress, a leading banker said Friday. “All of the U.S. officials and congressional and Senate leaders we met in Washington assured us that Washington has no interest in undermining the Lebanese banking sector. They all agreed the Central Bank and the Lebanese banks have fully complied with the previous resolutions to combat money laundering and terrorism financing,” Joseph Torbey, the president of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, told reporters after paying a visit to Washington to explain the dangers of the draft proposal on Lebanon.
“I believe that the proposals made by some U.S. congressmen to tighten sanctions on Hezbollah will be at least amended to ensure no harms befalls on Lebanon and its banking system,” he said.
A number of congressmen had hammered out a draft called the “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017,” mainly aimed at cutting off all forms of financial support to the party, which Washington labels a terrorist organization.
The purpose of the amendments, according to the draft, was also to target all political groups in Lebanon that have strong alliance with Hezbollah, and the name of the Amal Movement surfaced for the first time in the new proposal.
Torbey said that his banking delegation told the U.S. officials that if the proposals passed without any amendments then they would hurt the Lebanese economy, financial sector and the country in general.
“These proposals are politically driven. We can’t handle the political angle of these proposals. But we told the U.S. officials that if you pass these proposals as they are, then you will be inflicting harm on the banking sector and this damage will be unbearable,” he added.
Torbey denied media allegations that a number of Lebanese banks would be blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury. “The U.S. Treasury publishes the names of any bank or party suspected of money laundering or terrorist funding on its website. I can attest that no Lebanese banks have been recently targeted by the Americans,” he added.
Torbey stressed that the renewal of Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh’s term would also help in the ongoing efforts to address the proposals to expand sanctions on Hezbollah and all its affiliates.
“I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Riad Salameh on behalf of the board of directors of the Association of Banks in Lebanon and the banking family. I would like to thank the Lebanese authorities, especially President Michel Aoun, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Cabinet, in particular Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, for taking this renewal decision, which we have already advocated for a while,” he said.
Torbey said that ABL delegation met with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate and senior officials of the Treasury and the Bureau of Lebanon and Syria at the National Security Council.
“The most important thing that we are interested in showing at this meeting is the coordination between the delegation of the Association of Banks in Lebanon and the delegation of the Lebanese Parliament was so complete that the two delegations did not cease to communicate during the entire period of our stay in the United States of America, out of concern to speak in one national language and defend Lebanon’s supreme interest above all else,” he added.
He added that he Lebanese delegation reaffirmed that the banks in Lebanon succeeded under the supervision of the Central Bank in applying the rules of compliance.
“The American side highlighted the importance of preserving the security and monetary stability in Lebanon as the two pillars of the stability of the country amid the regional volcano that has been boiling around us for years and which has caused damage to a number of countries in the region,” Torbey said.
He also said the delegation conveyed that Lebanon is already struggling to cope with the presence of more than 1.5 million Syria refugees. “The banking delegation stressed that Lebanon, which is still under pressure, does not need additional problems, which would threaten the country’s stability,” Torbey said
