The United States Treasury rightfully stands with the Lebanese People
Written for WHIA by Arabelle Barbeer
The United States Strategy on Countering Corruption, released by the White House on December 6, 2021, with its five pillars: Modernizing, Coordinating, and Resourcing U.S. Government’s (USG) Efforts to Better Fight Corruption; Curbing Illicit Finance; Holding Corrupt Actors Accountable; Preserving and Strengthening the Multilateral Anti-Corruption Architecture; and Improving Diplomatic Engagement and Leveraging Foreign Assistance Resources to Advance Policy Goals- places special emphasis on the transnational dimensions of corruption and its repercussions. At present, Countering Corruption is at the core of the U.S. National Security interest and priorities, including engagement on Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) to protect financial systems from terrorist non-state actors and criminal networks, both domestically and internationally. Actually, the Department of Treasury (USDT) has diligently strived to track terrorist money flow and to uncover terrorist networks at home and around the world, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
On December 16, 2021, the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Mr. Brian Nelson, held a virtual meeting with the Association of Banks in Lebanon, which was warned against facilitating the business of local and regional terrorist networks using the Lebanese financial system to contribute to the culture of corruption, increase instability in Lebanon and exacerbate the conflict in Syria. The Under Secretary specifically expressed concerns about the “lack of due diligence that banks have applied to identify politically exposed persons- or PEPs,” and requested that Lebanese banks take a risk-based approach to prevent terrorist funding from transiting the Lebanese financial system, by strictly enforcing the 2015 Lebanese Law of Fighting Money Laundering that established the Special Investigation Commission (SIC)- Article 6. It is precisely the absence of local controls and impunity of the corrupt in Lebanon that led the Treasury to the series of financial sanctions and designations of Lebanese individuals (including politicians) and groups, in order to protect the US and international financial systems, in accordance with Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act.
View the dramatic increase in poverty and the collapse of both the private and public sectors this past year in Lebanon, Lebanese stakeholders have a national obligation to share AML/CFT information with international and regional partners, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, as well as the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA/FATF), as this constitutes the only track that could stop the downfall of Lebanon, as a de facto “Failed State.” It is the survivors’ spirit of a population which lived successive wars, the citizens’ determination to continue the pursuit of social justice and accountability, and the attention of the international community to the Middle East – most importantly the USG assistance programs and its continuous support to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)- that give hope to the Lebanese people that they will not lose their country once again to Terrorism.
