Hezbollah’s Al-Qard Al-Hassan on Verge of Bankruptcy, Depositors’ Money at Risk
A week after hackers
breached Hezbollah’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH), and
published data pertaining to the depositors’ accounts, a Twitter user under the
name of Bankinstein leaked information on the institution, revealing that it
was heading towards potential bankruptcy.
According to the
leaked information, the financial institution – which works independently from
the Lebanese official banking system – owns deposits worth USD 500 million,
while it disbursed loans of about USD 450 million. Gold deposit loans represent
only 64 percent of AQAH loan balance, while 8 percent are unsecured loans.
Last month, a cyber
hacker under the name of Spiderz managed to breach some of the accounts of
Al-Qard Al-Hassan and released the names of alleged banks and citizens who had
accounts with the financial institution and disclosed the number of accounts,
addresses and phone numbers.
Political researcher
and university professor Makram Rabah believes that evaluating AQAH on the
basis of a faltering or non-faltering institution is imprecise, as the primary
goal of this institution is to launder Hezbollah’s money, not to preserve the
deposits of its clients.
In remarks to Asharq
Al-Awsat, Rabah said that the recent piracy raises questions and might be an
inside operation. He noted that it was likely that the institution will take
the hacking as an excuse to refrain from returning the deposits to their
owners, especially as AQAH is not subject to the laws governing the Lebanese
banking system.
Established in the
1980s, Al-Qard Al-Hassan provides small-sized and short-term loans to its
clients, who deposit money in the association on a monthly basis. It also gives
loans against gold guarantees.
In April 2016, the US
Treasury Department included AQAH on its sanctions list (based on a 2015
legislation). Three years later, the association opened two accounts to transfer
donations to the flood victims in Iran by the Iranian Red Crescent and the
Hezbollah Imdad Association.
