Judicial decision against a bank in the case of withholding the...

Radwan Mortada wrote in “Al-Akhbar”:

Judge Faisal Makki set a precedent for his decision to seize the funds of SGBL Chairman Antoun Sehnaoui, members of the bank’s board of directors, and the bank’s funds, against the background of the lawsuit filed by Jordanian businessman Talal Abu Ghazaleh against the bank who refused to transfer his money amounting to $ 23 million to his accounts in Jordan And he gave him a bank check for the amount instead. This decision sets a precedent for hundreds of depositors to initiate lawsuits against banks to recover their deposits.

Head of the Beirut Implementation Department, Judge Mekki, said that members of the Societe Generale Bank’s board of directors and its chairman are responsible for the wrong decisions they made to undertake high-risk investments in a failed, corrupt state. According to the judicial sources, the seizure request was submitted by Abu Ghazaleh’s agents two months ago, but the judge studied it for a long time before making this decision. The judge proceeded from considering the decision of the bank’s board of directors to give citizens’ deposits to the state in the form of debts, a decision that they bear personal responsibility, so he placed the seizure on their private funds to compensate for the damage caused to the depositor. On the other hand, SGBL sources revealed that the bank’s agents rushed to place a bank check with a value of more than one million dollars, as a guarantee for the plaintiff Abu Ghazaleh, who stated that he estimates that he lost interest due to his inability to transfer his money, at more than one million dollars. The bank placed this guarantee to release the seizure of the funds and real estate of the members of the board of directors, pending verification of the plaintiff’s claim, indicating that the seizure is supposed to be lifted within days. The sources indicated that she gave Abu Ghazaleh all his money under a bank check as soon as he claimed, considering that this is the right of the legal bank!
In the facts of the judicial decision, Abu Ghazaleh, at the attorney general’s agency, Philip Maalouf, filed a lawsuit before the Civil Court of First Instance in Beirut against SGBL and the chairman and members of its board of directors to demand compensation and interest for funds worth $ 23 million that SGBL refused to transfer to its accounts in Jordan. The plaintiff considered that the defendants had committed grave professional mistakes represented by investing the depositors ’money in high-risk bonds, and by doing so, they would have violated the Trade Law and the Monetary and Credit Law. Abu Ghazaleh submitted a request to place the precautionary seizure on the bank’s funds, as well as the funds of its chairman and members of its board of directors. As a result of the request, Judge Faisal Makki issued a decision authorizing the release of precautionary seizures on more than 180 properties belonging to SGBL Bank and each of its Board Chairman Antoun Nabil Sehnaoui and members of the Board of Directors.
It should be noted that the agent of SGBL bank deposited a bank check for the amount of the amounts owed by the judge’s registry, noting that the appeal by the bank requires an objection before the judge himself. After the judge’s decision is issued and the objection is decided upon, the decision is appealed and then appealed.