Suspected of embezzlement of public funds in a case whose ramifications extend to Europe, the governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL), Riad Salamé, was formally charged with illicit enrichment and money laundering on Monday March 21st. The Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Judge Ghada Aoun, confirmed to the World to have initiated proceedings against the 71-year-old man, who has managed the finances of the Lebanese state since 1993, against his younger brother Raja Salamé, his former Ukrainian partner, Anna Kosakova, as well as three companies in connection with the acquisition of four luxury apartments in Paris and the rental of one of these properties to the BDL.
Judge Aoun accuses Riad Salamé of having used his brother Raja, as well as Anna Kosakova, with whom he had a daughter, to acquire, through fictitious companies – SCI BEL and BET SA – real estate on avenue des Champs-Elysées and avenue Georges-Mandel for more than 10 million euros, between 2007 and 2014. In 2010, the BDL had signed a service provision contract – for more than 37,000 euros per month – with the company Eciffice , headed by Mr.me Kosakova, to rent one of these apartments. Judge Aoun also requested additional information on the source of the 5 million euros which allowed Raja Salamé to acquire, between 2011 and 2015, three other apartments in Paris.
The Lebanese judge says that she was unable to benefit in her investigation from the help of the French justice system, whose request for mutual legal assistance in Lebanon is currently blocked. The heritage in question is however at the heart of the judicial investigation opened, in July 2021, in Paris against “X for heads of money laundering in organized gangs and association of criminals”. An investigation opened in Switzerland revealed a brokerage contract between the BDL and the company Forry Associates LTD, owned by Raja Salamé. Swiss magistrates suspect that this arrangement made it possible to embezzle more than 330 million dollars in commissions on the sale of financial securities of the BDL between 2002 and 2015. Investigations targeting Mr. Salamé have also been opened in Germany, in Liechtenstein and in Luxemburg.
“hostile comments”
Neither the increased judicial pressure in Europe nor this first accusation in Lebanon deviates Riad Salamé from its line of defense. The Lebanese financier claims to have built up his fortune before his arrival at the head of the BDL, from an inheritance and his emoluments as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. “I carried out an audit on my assets. He was handed over to judicial authorities in Lebanon and abroad. This audit confirms that no public funds have contributed to my assets,” he repeated to World, in reference to the audit he ordered from BDO Semaan, Gholam & Co, but which has no legal value in the eyes of the experts.
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