Following the wave of successive robberies of branches of banks operating in the different regions of Lebanon, which averages one robbery and aggression per week in the recent period, the Association of Banks in Lebanon can only express its indignation and firm condemnation of these growing criminal acts and that are apparently led by organized groups that take advantage of the immobility and deficiency of the State’s ministries and competent authorities to preserve the security of the nation and the citizen, as witnessed by the continuous failure to arrest the perpetrators of these crimes and abuses.

In any case, the Association of Banks in Lebanon asks the executive power, in particular the security forces and institutions, take seriously and efficiently the necessary measures to counter those repetitive attacks and guarantee with attentiveness the security of our country in general and in particular that of the economic and banking institutions; it is imperative to firmly oppose to this laxity at the security level that would have a negative impact on the economic and social stability of the country whose general environment is already tensed by the political frictions and the slowdown of the tourist and economic activities. In the same way, the Association calls on judicial authorities to accelerate the prosecution of individuals detained for this type of crime and to inflict them with severe sanctions in order to discard definitively the misconception that one can evade the sentence of the justice in a country which its people wants it to be a constitutional state.