The Deputy Governor of the Banque du Liban, Salim Shaheen, announced, in an interview with Reuters, that the four deputies of the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon “may all resign,” unless a new governor is appointed for the bank after the term of the current governor, Riad Salameh, expires at the end of this month.
The deputies of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Wasim Mansouri, Bashir Yaqzan, Salim Shaheen, and Alexander Moradian, had stressed, in an earlier statement, the need to appoint a governor pursuant to Article 18 of the Monetary and Credit Law as soon as possible and before the end of the term of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh whose term ends on July 31, 2023, “otherwise We will have to take whatever measure we see fit.”
Central Bank sources told LBCI television that the “measure” would be the resignation of the four vice governors.
Usually upon the proposal of the Minister of Finance, the Governor is appointed by decree sanctioned by the Council of Ministers, for a renewable six-year term. But the current council is considered a resigned caretaker cabinet .
By law the governor should be a Maronite Christian .
The Christian parties my not allow the current caretaker PM Najib Mikati who is an ally of Hezbollah to make such a move and prefer to wait until a new president is elected and a new cabinet is formed
Salameh , who has been serving as the governor for three decades is the longest-serving central bank governor in the world. Although initially he was credited for maintaining the stability of the Lebanese pound until 2019, Salameh is accused of corruption, money laundering and running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
Under Salameh the Lebanese currency became worthless, dropped over 98 % of its value against the Dollar . It was pegged at the rate of 1507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar until 2019 but had since collapsed gradually and has been trading at around 96,000 to the dollar.
Salameh will retire as a wanted man.
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