Beirut, February 23, 2023 (Xinhua) – The Lebanese judiciary today (Thursday) charged the Governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, with several crimes, including embezzlement, money laundering and illegal enrichment, according to official media.
And the official Lebanese National News Agency stated, “The Public Appeal Advocate in Beirut, Judge Raja Hamoush, sued the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and his assistant, Marianne Howayek, and everyone whom the investigation shows for crimes of embezzlement of public funds, forgery, use of forgery, illegal enrichment, money laundering, and violation of tax law.” .
She added that the Attorney General referred the file to the first investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abu Samra, and asked to interrogate them and issue the necessary judicial warrants against them.
Salameh has held the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon since 1993, after working for 20 years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in Beirut and Paris, and his current term is supposed to end next May.
Last April, the Lebanese judiciary launched an investigation into suspicions about financial transfers made by Salameh, after he was targeted by a European investigation on suspicion of his and his brother Raja Salameh’s involvement in cases of embezzlement of more than 300 million dollars.
Last December, the Lebanese judiciary released Raja Salameh on bail, seized his real estate, and prevented him from traveling after his two-month arrest on the grounds of “money laundering and illegal enrichment.”
The allegation against the governor of the Central Bank comes about a month after European investigators in Beirut heard three former deputies of Salameh, directors of the Central Bank and Lebanese bankers in the context of investigations related to financial transfers from Lebanon abroad that are suspected of corruption and money laundering.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been witnessing a severe financial and economic crisis, which the World Bank ranked among the worst in the world in 150 years.