U.S. Official in Lebanon Next Week to Tackle Lebanon’s Commitment to Iran, Syria Sanctions
U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen is expected to visit to Lebanon next week to hold talks with a number of high-ranking officials, including Bank of Lebanon Governor Riyad Salameh, reported An Nahar daily on Friday.
Concerned circles did not reveal the purposes of the visit, but it has been understood that the U.S. official will tackle the financial sanctions against Syria and Iran, and Lebanon’s commitment to them, added the daily.
It also said that Cohen’s visit is a follow up to the one carried out in November by his assistant, Daniel Glaser, in light of the Lebanese Canadian Bank crisis, it added.
Glaser had met with Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Salameh, and a number of representatives from the Lebanese banking community.
He emphasized the need for Lebanon to take the necessary steps to ensure a transparent and well-regulated financial sector for Lebanon’s continued prosperity.
He stressed the need for authorities to protect the Lebanese financial sector from potential Syrian attempts to evade U.S. and EU financial sanctions.
The U.S. official reiterated his country’s view that it is important to ensure that the current instability in Syria does not undermine the Lebanese financial sector.
The United States, which lists Hizbullah as a “terrorist” group, filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the Lebanese Canadian Bank, accusing it of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds from an alleged cocaine trafficker with ties to the Lebanese party.
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