Dual Lebanese-U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering and Tax Offenses

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by justice.gov -- ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A dual Lebanese and U.S. citizen who resides in Vienna, Virginia pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to launder money as part of a decade-long scheme to ship electronics equipment to a Hizballah-owned television station in Lebanon. In addition, the defendant and her husband pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit tax fraud by concealing income from her employment in Virginia. “For over a decade, Racha Farhat participated in a conspiracy to purchase electronics equipment using the proceeds of illegal activity, which benefited a Lebanese television station owned by Hizballah,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we will bring to justice those who use the U.S. financial system to further the interests of prohibited entities that engage in unlawful activities abroad.”

According to court documents, Racha Farhat, 44, began laundering money in 2010 and continued to do so until the time of her arrest in February 2021. The scheme involved Farhat receiving money from an unindicted co-conspirator (UCC-1) in Lebanon, which she used to purchase electronics equipment in the United States. Farhat then shipped the items purchased by herself and other co-conspirators overseas, primarily to Lebanon, where UCC-1 supplied at least $175,000 worth of goods to Al Manar TV. Al Manar TV is a Lebanon-based TV station owned and operated by Hizballah. Both Hizballah and Al Manar TV are prohibited entities for a U.S. person to conduct business with under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

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Beirut bakery grows own wheat to combat rising food insecurity

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By Maghie Ghali - aljazeera.com -- - Beirut, Lebanon – As the deepening economic crisis continues, the soaring prices of basic necessities like bread have pushed many Lebanese below the poverty line. With Lebanon’s bakers relying on imported wheat to produce their goods, the cost of even the heavily subsidised traditional flatbread – eaten by rich and poor alike with most meals – has tripled since 2019. Mavia Bakery, a small outfit tucked away in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh district, is trying to ensure Lebanon has better food security and is less dependent on imported flour for its bakeries with a series of humanitarian projects. Opened in 2020 by educational NGO Sadalsuud founder and avid baker Brant Stewart, the bakery works out of a cooperative kitchen in Tripoli and only hires women from marginalised communities. “This space came about because I wanted to do something that is desirable and needed regardless of who makes it, otherwise it’s not sustainable,” Stewart told Al Jazeera. “The number of people willing to buy something because of who made it dries up quickly – there are only so many beaded bags that people can buy, but everyone needs bread.”

Locally grown

Currently, 80 percent of the wheat Lebanon consumes is imported from countries like Ukraine, which has high production on vast tracts of land Lebanon lacks. What little local wheat is grown is used as freekeh or burghul (bulgur). “Wheat as a commodity crop is not financially viable in Lebanon. There are people who grow their own wheat for personal use but, on an industrial scale, local wheat doesn’t happen,” Stewart said. “The flour that we buy here from the Bakalian mill, which is made from imported wheat, costs 1,500 lira per kilo [$1], which is much cheaper than the local Bekaa wheat that we buy, which is for 5,000 lira [$3.30] a kilo because there is not enough being grown to cover demand. “There hasn’t been a mill focused on milling locally grown wheat either – these massive mills working imported wheat can’t just take a small amount of local stuff and mill it,” he added. “These machines are huge and it really is the milling that is the missing link in the chain. Milling is an art and the milling that’s happening on a smaller scale is not milled well and is low quality.”

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Lebanese security forces foil attempt to smuggle fuel across Syria border

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by arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces have foiled a bid to smuggle 8,000 liters of fuel into Syria. The Internal Security Forces (ISF) arrested a four-member gang of Lebanese smugglers, who had stashed the subsidized fuel in two secret tanks that were hidden inside pick-up trucks. ISF said an informant had tipped off intelligence and information teams about the smugglers’ intent to conceal the fuel and smuggle it through one of the Akkar-Hermel routes to Syria. An ISF squad stopped and impounded three vehicles in a sting operation at Bayno-Al Oyoun highway, leading to Hermel, on Thursday.

The three impounded cars were the pick-up trucks and a white Mercedes, which was used to monitor the route. “Unfortunately, while law enforcement bodies are working vigilantly to curtail smuggling of subsidized products by smugglers to Syria, many of those are covered up by politicians or influential figures,” an unnamed senior lieutenant said. “Smuggling subsidized goods (mainly petrol and diesel) has prospered recently, especially with smugglers purchasing fuel products here for around LBP40,000 ($26.53) per tank and selling them in Syria for three or four times that price.”

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Lebanese ministries told to wait to grant approval for subsidized imports

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by arabnews -- Najia Houssari -- BEIRUT: The Banque du Liban has informed the Economy Ministry and other concerned ministries of the need to wait to grant approval for subsidized imports. The move by Lebanon’s central bank comes as the caretaker government has been unable to secure a social safety net by agreeing to issue ration cards for the poorest families. Meanwhile, there are no solutions to the problems obstructing the formation of a government to rescue the country from its economic crisis. Prices of food such as beef and chicken have risen steeply, shocking supermarket customers. Employees at these stores say sales have declined due to people’s inability to pay these higher prices.

A source in the Finance Ministry told Arab News that the state supports “about 80 commodities,” including “wheat, fuel and medicines,” and that the ministry is planning to reduce this number to 30. Subsidies have been removed from medical devices and supplies. The Medical Equipment and Devices Importers Syndicate said: “This means that the prices of goods (in this sector) will significantly rise.” Subsidies on over-the-counter drugs are likely to be permanently lifted, but there are no plans to remove subsidies on medicines for incurable diseases. Monthly subsidies do not exceed $500 million, but the scarcity of financial resources and the government’s inability to undertake reforms has made covering this cost difficult.

Lebanon’s lights may go off this month

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by thearabweekly.com -- BEIRUT – Lebanon’s lights may go off this month because cash for electricity generation is running out, a lawmaker said on Thursday, as the country grapples with a deep economic crisis. Lebanon’s parliament had approved a $200 million emergency loan to finance fuel imports for power generation in March, but a committee reviewing the loan has yet to approve it. “We should not forget that starting May 15, gradual darkness will start,” said Nazih Negm, a member of parliament, according to a government statement released after he met the caretaker finance and energy ministers. The Lebanese have long learned to live with regular power cuts that run for at least three hours a day in the capital and much longer in other areas, because the state’s power plants cannot meet demand. Many people rely on private generators. But the financial crisis has exacerbated the heavily-indebted nation’s problems, as the government struggles to find enough foreign exchange to pay for fuel and other basic imports.

The loan, approved by lawmakers in March, is being reviewed by a constitutional committee, which is studying whether it is lawful. The government resigned after a massive blast in Beirut in August and is now acting in a caretaker capacity. “We hope that the constitutional committee does not take a month to reach its decision because the situation can’t wait,” Negm said, according to the government statement. Lebanon usually keeps enough fuel for about two months or so, as it is too costly to hold strategic reserves for longer. The economic meltdown, the biggest crisis since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, has fuelled unrest, locked depositors out of their accounts and hammered the currency, which has lost around 90% of its value against the dollar. Earlier in March, Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister warned the country would plunge into “total darkness” at the end of the month if no money was secured to buy fuel for power stations.

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French foreign minister delivers warning to Lebanese MPs in Beirut

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By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stressed during his meetings with Lebanese officials on Thursday that “the French initiative to solve the crisis in forming the Lebanese government is still in force and the responsibility for implementing it rests with the Lebanese.” Arab News has learned that Le Drian also hinted that sanctions might be imposed against those who obstruct the formation of the new government. On the eve of his arrival in Beirut, Le Drian tweeted that he would deliver “a strongly worded message to political officials and a message expressing our full solidarity with the Lebanese people. We will deal firmly with those who obstruct the formation of the government, and we have taken national measures, and this is only the beginning.” He also said that his visit to Lebanon “confirms France’s solidarity in the field of education, medicine, and archeology as well as its support for the Lebanese who are doing their best for their country.”

Following the Beirut port blast in August, French President Emmanuel Macron announced an initiative to help form a government of specialists to help lift Lebanon out of its economic crisis. However, Macron’s initiative has not yet been implemented, so people in Lebanon followed Le Drian’s meetings with interest. Before Le Drian’s visit there was speculation that he did not intend to meet with Prime Minister-designate, Saad Hariri, but might meet with the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil. Some had predicted that Hariri would give up his post as PM-designate due to his ongoing disagreement with President Michel Aoun and his political team over the formation of the new government, with Aoun reportedly demanding a ‘blocking third’ for his allies.

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