Depositor takes money by force from Sidon bank for son's surgery

Lebanese depositor Wafik Mohammed Kalo on Monday locked up himself and other people inside BLOM Bank’s branch in the southern city of Sidon, demanding that he be paid $5,000 from his account to pay for his son’s heart surgery.

The drama ended a few hours later after the bank paid Kalo LBP 280 million.

The man had locked the bank’s gate from the inside, threatening to set himself on fire and preventing anyone from entering or leaving the branch. According to Kalo, the money was needed to cover the expenses of an open heart surgery for his two-month-old son.

Security forces eventually managed to convince Kalo to allow depositors who got trapped inside to leave.

Kalo’s father meanwhile said that his son was not armed.

“We came today after the bank’s director told us to come on Monday to take the money. A week ago we brought the papers and X-rays after the treating doctor told us that the child was suffering from a hole in his heart and needed a $5,000 open heart surgery,” the father added.

“We have five accounts in the bank and we don’t want them all; we only want the surgery’s expenses. When my son asked for his right, they prevented him from entering… They want to give him the sub based on an LBP 8,000 exchange rate, knowing that all accounts would not be enough to cover for the surgery based on this rate,” the father went on to say.

Kalo is the latest in a growing number of angry depositors who have forced Lebanese lenders to unlock savings trapped under informal capital controls imposed in the face of an unprecedented financial crisis.

His plight echoes that of the many Lebanese who have been locked out of their savings by bank restrictions that have tightened since the start of the country's financial crash in 2019.

Commercial lenders have effectively banned most foreign currency transactions, forcing depositors to withdraw their savings in the plummeting Lebanese pound, which has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market.

Lebanon's banks closed for a week after a series of heists on September 16. They have since reopened to business-related transactions according to an appointments system and amid tight security. Individuals can meanwhile use ATMs to carry out cash operations.