فؤاد شهاب
Beidas' rise to a key player in Lebanon's economy aroused business enmities among the country's elites, for whom banking was a traditional and closed family-based monopoly. They resented the fact that a Palestinian interloper had assumed control over central parts of the national infrastructure. Beidas used part of his capital, furthermore, to finance the PLO's Fatah, which was becoming the political and military arm of the Palestinian diaspora. As early as 1962 (16 April) the then President of Lebanon, the Maronite Fuad Chehab, concerned about what he perceived to be the 'obscure powers' of international finance extending, though Beidas's companies, their tentacles into the Lebanese economy, sounded out General Pierre Rondot about the possibility of fighting against Beidas's interests in order to weaken his influence. Saudi Arabia's Faisal of Saudi Arabia in particular was discontented by the radicalism of the cause Beidas supported. Lebanese rumours claimed he was a British agent promoting British over French interests. In the jargon of the streets the Bank's name was spelt backwards to yield "artni", a slang expression for "He cheated me". In the early 60s, the Emir of Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, who was holidaying at the time in the mountain resort of Aley demanded to see the 5 million dollars he had deposited with Intra. Beidas managed to put together the sum, and drove out to the Emir's villa, where he proceeded to slowly count the money out. Before he had finished, the Emir expressed his satisfaction that all was right, but Beidas, outraged by the lack of trust, told him to keep his cash.