New charges filed against Lebanon central bank chief
Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh during a studio photo session in Beirut on December 20, 2021
Beirut – A Lebanese judge filed new charges on Thursday against central bank chief Riad Salameh, who already faces investigations into the fortune he amassed in a country mired in financial crisis.
Salameh, his brother Raja and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek were being indicted for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, a judicial official told AFP.
They are the first such charges to have been levelled against him in a Lebanese probe that was launched in 2021 in parallel with investigations overseen by European judges.
The 72-year-old central bank governor is already the subject of a series of judicial investigations, both in the country and abroad, related to suspicions of money laundering and illicit enrichment.
In January, investigators from France, Germany and Luxembourg interviewed banking officials in Beirut about the movement of funds to countries where Salameh has significant assets.
In March last year, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth 120 million euros ($130 million) following an investigation targeting five people, including the central bank governor.
European investigators had been looking into existing accounts in private banks in the name of Raja Salameh, and the movement of funds to the accounts of the two brothers abroad.
Arrested last year on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment, Raja Salameh was released two months later on bail of about 3.5 million euros, the highest in Lebanese history.
Lebanon opened an investigation into Salameh’s assets in 2021, after a request for assistance from Switzerland’s public prosecutor probing more than $300 million in fund movements by the governor and his brother.
Salameh, who has headed the central bank since 1993, is accused of corruption and of being one of the main culprits of a financial crisis described by the World Bank as the worst globally in modern history.
He categorically denies all accusations against him and has rarely appeared before the judiciary, despite numerous complaints, summonses, investigations and a travel ban issued against him a year ago.