The Lebanese were excluded from their deposits during the crisis Woman breaks into bank to get cash for her sick sister Another gunman was arrested after holding up another bank The phenomenon illustrates the plight of the “failed state” of Lebanon
BEIRUT, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Two apparently armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been frozen during a national financial meltdown. A woman with a gun and some of her associates briefly held a BLOM Bank ( BLOM.BY ) branch in the capital Beirut hostage before making off with more than $13,000 in cash from her account, a source at a depositors’ advocacy group said. . A short time later, in the mountain town of Aley, an armed man entered a Bankmed branch and retrieved some of his trapped savings before handing himself over to authorities, Depositors Outcry and a security source said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Lebanon’s banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since a financial crisis hit three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for the basics. In a phenomenon that illustrates the dire situation, Wednesday’s delays came after a man last month held up another Beirut bank to withdraw funds for his ailing father’s treatment. read more BLOM Bank said a customer and accomplices arrived with a gun, threatened to set people on fire and forced the branch manager and cashier to fetch money from a safe.
“NOTHING ELSE TO LOSE”
Before going into hiding, the woman, Sali Hafiz, told local news channel Al Jadeed TV that the gun was a toy and that she needed the money for her sister’s cancer treatment. “I have nothing left to lose, I have reached the end of the road,” he said, saying that a visit to the bank manager two days earlier had not provided a sufficient solution. Members of the Lebanese army stand guard outside a Blom Bank branch in Beirut, Lebanon, September 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir read more “It got to a point where I was going to sell my kidney so my sister could get treatment.” BLOM confirmed that the client had gone to claim her money for her sister’s treatment, saying she was offered full cooperation and asked to provide documents. “All we have is this money in the bank. My daughter was forced to take this money – it’s her right, it’s in her account – to treat her sister,” Hiam Hafiz’s mother told local television. Authorities did not immediately comment on the incidents. Bankmed did not comment on the closure of its branches. After last month’s arrest, which also involved hostages, the accused shooter was arrested but later released without charge after the bank dropped its lawsuit. A senior Lebanese banker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters it was a worrying precedent, “I think this is an invitation for other people to do the same. As long as people get away with it, they will continue. What a failed state,” the banker said. Banks say they make exceptions for humanitarian cases, including hospital care, but depositors say this rarely happens. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam and Issam Abdallah. Written by Maya Gebeily Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Cawthorne. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
