Why the audit of Lebanon’s central bank has ground to a halt

Why the audit of Lebanon’s central bank has ground to a halt

International consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal, which has been tasked with carrying out a forensic audit on Lebanon's central bank, is unable to complete the work because it is being denied access key documents.

Lebanon's government agreed in July to hire the New York-based company to conduct the audit to determine how massive amounts of money were spent in a country plagued by corruption.

Listed Lebanese banks register worst financial results in history, with a combined net loss of $770.4m in 2019

Two other companies, KPMG and Oliver Wyman, were contracted to do traditional accounting audits of central bank accounts.

According to a document seen by Arabian Business (below), Alvarez & Marsal has been unable to access nearly 100 documents for its preliminary investigation to determine if there have been any accounting irregularities.

Lebanon Central