After Swiss justice, it is the turn of French justice to take an interest in the European heritage of the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salamé, now a figure hated by his people as the country sinks into the worst economic crisis in its history.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) has indeed opened a preliminary investigation for “criminal association” and “organized gang money laundering”, Agence France-Presse learned on Sunday, June 6 from a source close to the case, information confirmed by a judicial source. The investigation should in particular shed light on the origin of the rich heritage of Mr. Salamé, now 70 years old.
Riad Salamé had already been targeted for several months by an investigation in Switzerland for “Aggravated money laundering in connection with a possible embezzlement to the detriment of the Banque du Liban”.
Two complaints filed in France
Two complaints were filed in April in France, where the Lebanese owns several properties, and through which suspicious financial flows may have passed. The first complaint was brought by the Swiss foundation Accountability Now, and the second by the Sherpa association, together with the Collective of victims of fraudulent and criminal practices in Lebanon, a group born of the economic crisis that has hit the country since 2019, according to information from World.
The complaint filed by the latter accuses Mr. Salamé and four members of his entourage (his brother Raja, his son, Nadi, one of his nephews and one of his close collaborators at the Lebanese Central Bank, Marianne Hoayek) of ” have fraudulently built up a rich heritage in Europe.
The associations thus ask the justice to investigate the massive flight of Lebanese capital since the beginning of the crisis, as well as the constitution of a disproportionate luxury real estate heritage given the income of the people concerned, or even the responsibility. financial intermediaries, via tax havens and nominees.
A shouted figure
Arrived at the head of the Lebanese central bank in 1993 after having worked for twenty years as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch in Beirut and in Paris, this influential character has long been hailed by the Lebanese political class and by the economic world.
But as Lebanon faces an unprecedented economic crisis – one of the world’s worst financial crises since the mid-19th centurye century, according to the World Bank – this close friend of the Hariri family clan is today one of the most reviled figures on the streets.
Public opinion suspects him of having, like other senior officials in the country, quietly transferred large sums abroad during the October 2019 uprising, despite the draconian restrictions adopted by the banks.
According to a complaint filed in France by two associations, “Global heritage” by Riad Salamé “Would now exceed $ 2 billion”. “Its identified assets in Luxembourg reached $ 94 million in 2018”, underlines the complaint, which is based in particular on the revelations of the Lebanese site Daraj and the investigations of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project platform.
Mr. Salamé disputed the figures thus advanced, claiming to have built up his fortune from inheritances and his career in finance. The Central Bank pilot explains that “His personal assets amounted to 23 million dollars (19 million euros)” when he took office in 1993, and “That the growth of its assets, since, results from investments which do not contravene the obligations related to its functions”, which several Lebanese jurists dispute.
“A mega-inquiry opens, ecumenical, with a European dimension”, welcomed Sunday to AFP, at the announcement of the opening of such an investigation by France, the lawyers of Sherpa and the Collective of victims of fraudulent and criminal practices in Lebanon, Mr.e William Bourdon and Me Amélie Lefebvre. “Vast laundering operations will be auscultated, which should open all the drawers of the mafia which brought Lebanon to its knees”, they hope.
This new PNF investigation is in line with the so-called “ill-gotten gains” cases, cases in which French justice, pushed by the fight of several NGOs, examines the origin of the heritage in France of various foreign leaders ( especially Africans or Middle Easterners) – goods potentially acquired with public money having been embezzled in their country.
