BEIRUT - HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh,
founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), has received in
his office in Beirut a delegation from Lebanon's Depositors' Outcry Association
to discuss the possibility of filing a class action lawsuit against Lebanese
banks to bring justice to affected depositors and to grant them access to their
frozen savings.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh assured the delegation of
the importance of full repeal, of the Lebanon banking secrecy law, as a first
step, pointing out that depositors' funds did not vanish or evaporate, but  were transferred from one account to another.
He went on to stress that the key case is to recover the money, not pressing
charges against the actual culprits.

He continued by saying that no reforms
could be achieved in Lebanon in light of the Bank Secrecy Law, as everyone
should call for lifting banking secrecy, describing the bank accounts audit
issue as a "big lie".

“Our current case will be a Class Action
to indicate that what has been committed against all Lebanese depositors is a
crime against humanity, therefore, we will file this case with the relevant
international authorities,” Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said. 

Lebanon introduced two strange concepts;
Capital Control and Hair Cut and both are worthless, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said,
“There is no distinction between a large and a small depositor, they are equal
before the law, and the relationship between depositors and banks is governed
by a contract.”

At the end of the meeting, the two parties
agreed to cooperate and intensify efforts to recover people’s money from the
banks. That is in addition to proceeding with the Class Action before the
international courts; in view of the fact that international law  considers the Lebanon bank holdups since
October 2019, a crime against humanity.