The head of Beirut Bar, Melhem Khalaf, issued the following statement:

Pursuant to the statement issued by us on 3/26/2021 on the issue of forensic auditing and the task assigned to Alvarez & Marsal by the Lebanese state represented by the Ministry of Finance, we express the following:

As a reminder, auditing the accounts of the Banque du Liban was not a mere operation that the Lebanese state wanted to do, but rather it was part of a broader scheme aimed at reviewing and evaluating the financial situation of the Banque du Liban and identifying the reasons for the imbalance of the financial situation of the banking sector, in order to plan the necessary measures to restore balance to This sector and negotiation with international financial institutions, especially the International Monetary Fund.

On 01/09/2020, and in conjunction with the conclusion of the contract with Alvarez & Marsal, the Lebanese state, represented by the Ministry of Finance, concluded two more contracts with KPMG Accountants NV and Oliver Wyman, according to which the first was assigned several tasks, including assessing the financial situation of the Banque du Liban, and the second task was to review The financial condition of this bank and giving an independent opinion on the reasons for the imbalance in the financial condition of the banking sector.

And if the spotlight has been on Alvarez & Marsal since September 1, 2020, nothing has come out into the open regarding KPMG Accountants NV and Oliver Wyman. The Lebanese people, who pay the fees and expenses of the two aforementioned companies and are looking forward to the results of their work, deserve to know the fate of their contracts and whether they have fulfilled their mission, or what prevents that, and are they facing the same difficulties that Alvarez & Marsal are facing.

Since the Beirut Bar Association is determined to pursue the issue of auditing the state’s accounts in all its ministries, institutions and funds, and in the accounts of the Banque du Liban, and after seven and a half months have passed since the conclusion of contracts with the three aforementioned companies without showing any tangible result, we were directed on 4/2021 / 9 Four books:

The first, directed to KPMG Accountants NV, in which we ask it about the fate of its contract and the course of its mission.
The second, addressed to Oliver Wyman, we ask the same question.
The third and fourth, directed to the Ministry of Finance, based on Law No. 28 of 02/10/2017 Concerning the Right to Access Information, each contains specific questions regarding KPMG Accountants NV and Oliver Wyman.

It is important for the Beirut Bar Association to announce that it has not yet received any response from Alvarez & Marsal and the Ministry of Finance on its two letters addressed to them on 3/26/2021, despite the passage of more than two weeks after their dispatch, and that the Bar will follow this matter without Bored because of the importance of this issue to the Lebanese people.