Economic expert Jassem Ajaka<\/span> said money-laundering cases re\u00advealed by the Central Bank\u2019s inves\u00adtigation fit the definition of targeted cases by the American anti-Hezbol\u00adlah sanctions. He said the sanctions consider injecting laundered money into the Lebanese banking system, violations that must be stopped. He also said that most likely the major\u00adity of those being pursued by the Lebanese investigative board were already on American sanctions list.\u00a0Analyses of the situation in Leb\u00adanon favoured the view that the United States would not push for the maximum application of the law, given the political situation in Lebanon and the country\u2019s current difficulties. Ajaka, however, said the Americans \u201cdo not care about the likely impact of the sanctions on Lebanon and clearly favour a firm and rigorous approach to the matter.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAny bank suspected by the Unit\u00aded States will face an uncertain fu\u00adture and no one in Lebanon or from outside Lebanon can do anything to save it,\u201d Ajaka said.\u00a0He pointed out that the United States has imposed sanctions on international heavyweights such as Russia. So, \u201cdoes anyone really ex\u00adpect the United States to be scared of Lebanon, for example?\u201d Ajaka asked.\u00a0He said the current anxiety-filled atmosphere in Lebanon will lead to Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, being reappointed, given his high credibility with the United States.\u00a0Salameh seems to be the only one capable of managing the crisis and steering out of it with minimum damage. Ajax said the sanctions hastened the process of reaching a political consensus for another term for Salameh as central bank gover\u00adnor.\u00a0Salameh has left it up to individ\u00adual banks to appraise their internal situations and decide on their own whether they needed to close cer\u00adtain accounts regarding last year\u2019s sanctions. Ajaka said Salameh will take a different approach this year, with the Central Bank intervening directly in suspicious accounts and transactions.\u00a0Economist Ghaleb Bou Mosleh said he believes the United States is using the subject of money launder\u00ading to apply political pressure and blackmail since the biggest money-laundering hubs are in New York and London.\u00a0He explained that targeting Leba\u00adnese banks is overdoing it because most Lebanese banks \u201care actu\u00adally managing the spoliation of the country\u2019s wealth for the benefit of the Americans. Most investment capitals are foreign so it\u2019s really not possible that the United States will dare punish the Lebanese banking sector that hosts its investments and fortune.\u201d\u00a0Bou Mosleh added that Washing\u00adton was keen on protecting the Leb\u00adanese economy and would not push for its destruction as some alarm\u00adist analyses suggested. Destroying the Lebanese economy \u201centails the downfall of the entire political class in Lebanon which happens to be in control of all the economic tools in the country and which is natu\u00adrally gravitating around the United States,\u201d Bou Mosleh added.<\/p>\n
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