Report: BDL Employees Plan a Strike over Hamdan’s Arrest
The Central Bank employees plan to go on strike on Monday in protest at the arrest of senior bank official Mazen Hamdan over currency manipulation accusations, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.
On Thursday, financial prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim ordered the arrest of Hamdan, the director of monetary operations at the central bank (Banque du Liban).
Hamdan was arrested as part of an investigation into exchange rate manipulations as the country struggles with a major currency crisis.
The Lebanese pound had been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 since 1997 but the country's worst economic crisis in decades has seen its value plunge by more than half on the black market.
The central bank has sought to stem the fall by ordering exchange offices to cap the rate at 3,200 to the dollar, but the pound has kept sliding.
Lebanese officials already arrested the head of the money changers' union as it battles to stabilise the value of the country's currency on the black market.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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