In Case You Missed It: "U.S. and EU Probing Money of Lebanon's Hezbollah"

July 19, 2012

In Case You Missed It: "U.S. and EU Probing Money of Lebanon's Hezbollah"

"The Culmination of Pressure ... By the U.S.-Based Non-Governmental Organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)"

U.S. and EU Probing Money of Lebanon's Hezbollah

By Jilan al-Fatayri

Al Arabiya News

19 July 2012

The Lebanese banking sector is once more back to the limelight with EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove placing it on his agenda in a series of meetings he is to hold with a number of Lebanese officials to track down Hezbollah's money, according to a report published by the Lebanese newspaper Annahar.

Kerchove's visit to Lebanon is the culmination of pressure exercised on the country's banking sector, the last chapter of which was a report issued by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

The report, published in Wall Street Journal, accused the Lebanese banking sector of laundering Hezbollah's money and of not abiding by the international sanctions imposed on Iran and Syria.

The Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice requested to track down Shiite businessman Adnan Hassan Tajeddine and gain access to his bank accounts. Tajeddine, who filed for bankruptcy in the United States, is accused of smuggling Hezbollah money.

Joseph Torbey, chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, refuted claims that the banking sector in Lebanon in not abiding by international sanctions and called attempts at tightening the noose on it a conspiracy against Lebanon.

"This is a campaign launched by a non-governmental organization that has no official status to begin with," he told Al Arabiya.

What helps this campaign, he added, is the publication of reports against the Lebanese banking sectors in prominent newspapers, which endow them with credibility.

"But at the end, there is no proof that claims in these reports are true." ...

Torbey downplayed the effect of UANI's demand that American and European companies withdraw their investments from the Lebanese stock market and the fact that three companies have already done so and more are expected to follow. ...

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