Lebanon judiciary orders former Creditbank chairman to court

The charges against the Lebanese bank include fraudulent bankruptcy, forgery, money laundering, and tax evasion

A woman walks past a branch of Creditbank in Beirut. Reuters

Lebanon's top prosecutor Jamal Hajjar has ordered former Creditbank chairman Tarek Khalife to court and issued him with a travel ban, according to a Lebanese judicial source speaking to The National.

The charges include fraudulent bankruptcy, forgery, money laundering, and tax evasion.

The case involved alleged embezzlement from the financial institution, a source close to the file told The National.

“The investigation is scrutinising funds that were illegally siphoned from the institution and laundered,” the source said.

The alleged scheme has benefitted the “chairman of the bank and other management members, at the expense of the institution – that is, at the expense of depositors”, the source added.

Creditbank is one of Lebanon's leading banks with more than $2 billion in deposits.

In Lebanon, most depositors have been locked out of their savings since the economy collapsed in 2019, marked by galloping inflation, growing poverty and the Lebanese pound losing more than 95 per cent of its value. Except for a few well-connected people, most have been unable to access their life savings due to informal banking restrictions since October 7, 2019.

Since the crisis erupted, several scandals of financial corruption implicating the Lebanese banking sector have come to light, progressively uncovering the reasons behind what the World Bank has labelled as one of the worst economic crises since 1850.

In April, the Higher Banking Commission of the Banque du Liban appointed a former vice governor of BDL, Muhammad Baasiri, as interim administrator of Creditbank due to suspicions of mismanagement and corruption.

His role is to oversee the bank's board of directors, replace the current chief executive of the bank, Mr Khalife, and conduct a forensic audit of the bank.

Creditbank was also among the institutions facing legal action initiated by Ghada Aoun, the public prosecutor of Mount Lebanon, who has since been suspended from her position.

Her investigation followed a complaint filed by a group of lawyers alleging “breach of trust and fraud against depositors”. As Lebanese depositors seek access to their deposits, complaints against Lebanese banks, both domestically and internationally, have multiplied.

Other Lebanese banks also targeted in the probe included Bank Audi, Blom Bank, Bank of Beirut, Bankmed, and Societe Generale de Banque au Liban.

In March 2022, Ms Aoun ordered the seizure of all Creditbank's assets, including properties and vehicles, as part of her investigation. She also issued a travel ban for Mr Khalife.

The judicial source said Mr Hajjar's decision was unrelated to Ms Aoun's case.

Mr Khalife and Creditbank did not reply to The National's request for comment.