For your information

LCB in US crosshairs Lebanese Canadian Bank was accused by the United States Treasury Department of money laundering in connection with a drug operation with ties to Hezbollah, on February 10. The department released a 14-page notice of finding, which concluded, “Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL is a financial institution of primary money-laundering concern.” Stuart Levey, the US treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said he believed the fault lay with the bank’s “management complicity, failure of internal controls, lack of application of banking standards” and other “vulnerabilities” in Lebanese banking standards. In response, The Association of Banks in Lebanon put out a statement stating its support for the bank. Riad Salameh, governor of Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, travelled to Washington, DC, on February 24 to discuss the matter with US officials. Salameh and others have suggested that the investigation could be the result of Western dissatisfaction with