Public Actions

Lebanon’s Cabinet agreed Tuesday to appoint New York based firm Alvares & Marsal to conduct a forensic audit of the Central Bank.

The audit should reveal the scale of losses at Banque Du Liban and expose evidence of any corruption in its transactions – a prospect that no doubt has many of the country’s ruling elite shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

Cabinet ordered a forensic audit of BDL as a trust building and transparency measure after defaulting on a $1.2 billion Eurobond maturity in March. Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni had stalled the issue because the companies being considered purportedly had ties to Israel and that could lead to sensitive information falling into the hands of "hostile parties."