Arch rogue Roger Tamraz has just been released from a Rabat jail. That no extradition papers have been served by the Lebanese government on the disgraced investment banker says much about the poor collective memory of the Lebanese when it comes to those accused of grand theft or financial skullduggery. Who today cares to remember the downfall in 1966 of Intra Bank, an event that arguably contributed to the unraveling of the fragile Lebanese state and the descent into civil conflict? Maybe we choose to forget because Intra Bank, the largest financial institution in the Middle East, was allowed to collapse for no other reason than Lebanon’s so-called ruling elite could not stomach that so much power was concentrated in the hands of one man — the peerless Yusuf Beidas. The Lebanese have a great capacity for tolerating corruption. In fact, the bigger the haul, the more they tolerate. Last
