Former Governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, Riad Salamé, has been formally indicted on charges of embezzlement, forgery, and illicit enrichment. The indictment, issued by the accusatory body in Beirut, alleges that Salamé, along with two lawyers, Marwan Joe Issa el-Khoury and Michel John Tueni, misappropriated $44.8 million from a central bank ‘consultations account’.
The accusatory body, presided over by Judges Kamal Nassar, Marie Christine Eid, and Roland Chartouni, also approved a request from the Financial Public Prosecutor’s office to conduct expanded investigations into the movement of funds into and out of banks. The investigation aims to determine if bank managers failed to report these transactions to the Special Investigation Commission at the Central Bank.
Salamé previously spent approximately 13 months in detention related to financial crime allegations during his tenure. He was released in September after posting a record bail exceeding $14 million. He remains in Lebanon and is subject to a travel ban.
El-Khoury, one of the accused lawyers, denied knowledge of the alleged ‘consultations account’ and asserted that he played no role in the Central Bank’s financial transactions, nor did he receive any funds from it. He stated that the indictment itself called for continued investigation and that no charges should have been filed before its completion. El-Khoury further claimed that the investigation has already demonstrated that he did not receive any funds from the Central Bank or any fees related to its financial transactions.
The current Governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, Karim Saïd, stated last week that the bank would seek to recover public funds embezzled by at least one former official, lawyers, and commercial bankers to help ensure the bank’s liquidity. Saïd did not mention Salamé by name.
Salamé’s 30-year tenure as governor ended amid investigations into allegations that he embezzled over $300 million between 2002 and 2015.
Instead, Saïd told reporters that the Central Bank had filed a criminal complaint against a former bank official, an ex-banking employee, and a lawyer regarding these allegations.
