06 May 2015
The banks in Lebanon had closed the accounts of Lebanese and Arabic charities which are working in the field of relief Syrian refugees, and they claim that this action came due to the banks concerns about the safety of using these funds.
The head of the “Young tender givers” Charity Mohamed Awad said that “this reflected directly on the services provided by the Assembly to the refugees”, and he added, “We are now threat of closing.”
Because of the procedures followed by banks, drug stocks decreased in this Assembly in the north of Lebanon and lost treatments for various diseases, because it is no longer possible to transfer money from donors.
Officials in many other associations say the banks were hasty measures, arguing that they are not based on legal standards, but suspicion linked to the fight against so-called terrorism.
Banks did not comment in Lebanon to take these actions, but banking sources said that the goal of the procedure is to reduce the risks related to charges of money laundering figures and associations described as “terrorist” or supportive of terrorism.
In addition to that the General Secretary of the Union of Arab Banks Wesam Fattouh said that the problem did not originate from the Arab countries, but it’s a result of actions issued by the US Treasury Department, which has the authority to stop any operation which is not good in their opinion.