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3w ago

Lebanon Sends Salameh Case to Top Court as Indictment Cites $44.8 Million Embezzlement

The shift places the prosecution under the Court of Cassation, whose decisions are final.

Longtime chief of Lebanon's Central Bank Riad Salameh, poses as he leaves office after a 30-year tenure, at Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon July 31, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/ File Photo
FILE - Then Lebanon's Central Bank governor Riad Salameh listens to a journalist's question during a press conference, in Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
On January 13, Riad Salameh, former governor of Lebanon's central bank, was charged along with two lawyers over alleged embezzlement of $44.8 million. EPA

Overview

  • Judicial officials confirmed the corruption case was transferred to the Court of Cassation, with no trial date set and potential arrest warrants if the defendants fail to appear.
  • Beirut's indictment chamber charged Riad Salameh and lawyers Marwan Issa el-Khoury and Michel John Tueni with embezzlement, forgery and illicit enrichment tied to a central bank consultancy account that allegedly lost $44.8 million.
  • The chamber authorized prosecutors to widen inquiries into how funds moved through banks without senior managers notifying the central bank’s Special Investigation Commission.
  • Banque du Liban plans to act as a plaintiff in the probe of Forry Associates, which the U.S. Treasury described as a shell company linked to Salameh’s brother and used to divert about $330 million.
  • Salameh remains in Lebanon under a travel ban after more than 13 months in detention and over $14 million bail, denies wrongdoing, and continues to face European investigations and U.S., U.K. and Canadian sanctions.