A man who last week held up a bank in the Lebanese capital of Beirut said on Thursday he would begin negotiations to recover the rest of his savings.
Bassam Al Sheikh Hussein was able to negotiate the withdrawal of $35,000 of his own savings from the Federal Bank of Lebanon after a tense, seven-hour standoff.
Armed with a rifle and a gas canister, he threatened to kill hostages and self-immolate if the bank did not return the full amount of his savings, about $200,000.
The hold-up quickly amassed popular support for Mr Al Sheikh Hussein, with demonstrators gathering outside the branch to condemn Lebanon’s banking system.
“I’m demanding the full amount," Mr Al Sheikh Hussein told The National after a press conference on the matter. "I don’t mind if they give it to me in instalments, whatever, but I want the full amount.”
He said the Federal Bank for months had refused to allow his withdrawal of $400 per month, which is authorised by a Central Bank Circular.
Lebanon’s commercial banks imposed informal capital controls in late 2019, severely limiting withdrawals of hard currency.
This effectively means people can only take out limited quantities of their own money.
On August 11, Mr Al Sheikh Hussein said his attempt to withdraw the permissible amount of $400 a month was once again blocked by the bank’s manager.
“I asked for my money, he said there’s no money,” he told The National. "I asked to speak to his manager, he told me he’s the manager. Every month I come in, he kicks me out.
“He made me feel like I was a beggar … but it’s my own money.”
That was his breaking point, and the moment he decided to hold up the bank. With a rifle retrieved from his car, Mr Al Sheikh Hussein said he told customers at the bank to leave, then locked up the remaining employees — including the bank’s branch manager, Hassan Halawi.
Mr Halawi last week told The National that the bank policy imposed on Mr Al Sheikh Hussein was the same one imposed on all other customers. He declined to answer whether the Federal Bank of Lebanon’s Hamra branch was abiding by Central Bank circular 158, which permits withdrawals of up to $400.
None of the hostages were hurt during the hold-up. Mr Al Sheikh Hussein said on Thursday he had told the bank customers to leave, locking only bank employees inside.
Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF), under the auspices of the Interior Ministry, negotiated with Mr Al Sheikh Hussein. He eventually agreed to surrender when the ISF promised him $35,000 cash in hand plus $400 a day after that, and guarantees that he would not be arrested.
Mr Al Sheikh Hussein surrendered. He was given the $35,000, which he wanted for his father's medical care, and bundled into a white government vehicle.
But he was immediately detained despite the ISF’s promises, and remained in detention for four days. On Tuesday, the charges were dropped and he was released.
Fouad Debs, a lawyer for Mr Al Sheikh Hussein and co-founder of the Lebanese Depositors Union, has argued that the hold-up was not a robbery but a last resort, because Mr Al Sheikh Hussein had repeatedly tried to free his savings through legal means.
“We’ve seen the state of the judiciary — they are not even accepting lawsuits because they are on strike,” Mr Debs had told The National last week. "And even when they were [working], they weren’t giving judgment according to law and were biased towards the banks."
The bank standoff swept the nation and turned Mr Al Sheikh Hussein into an icon overnight. His plight mirrors that of all Lebanese, whose money has been trapped in banks since 2019. For the last three years, Lebanon has been mired in a steep economic crisis that the World Bank says is one of the worst in the modern world. The local currency has plummeted in value by more than 90 per cent and inflation has soared exponentially, making everyday life essentially unaffordable for many Lebanese. More than three quarters of Lebanon's population has been plunged below the poverty line, the UN says.
If the Federal Bank of Lebanon refuses to release Mr Al Sheikh Hussein’s full savings to him — about $137,000 — “I’ll go to the judiciary and demand my legal right. And if there’s no solution there, I’ll go back down to the bank, and do it all over again.”
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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South Korea
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Persuasion
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarrie%20Cracknell%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDakota%20Johnson%2C%20Cosmo%20Jarvis%2C%20Richard%20E%20Grant%2C%20Henry%20Golding%20and%20Nikki%20Amuka-Bird%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Naga
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The 12
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
MATCH INFO:
Second Test
Pakistan v Australia, Tuesday-Saturday, 10am daily at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Entrance is free
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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The specs
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
