Riad Salameh is suspected of having embezzled more than $330 million in public money through a slush fund set up at Lebanon's central bank when he was governor. Reuters
Riad Salameh is suspected of having embezzled more than $330 million in public money through a slush fund set up at Lebanon's central bank when he was governor. Reuters
Riad Salameh is suspected of having embezzled more than $330 million in public money through a slush fund set up at Lebanon's central bank when he was governor. Reuters
Riad Salameh is suspected of having embezzled more than $330 million in public money through a slush fund set up at Lebanon's central bank when he was governor. Reuters

Lebanon's central bank joins inquiry into alleged corruption by former chief Riad Salameh


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The Salameh Papers: Full coverage here

Lebanon’s central bank has joined the investigation into alleged embezzlement by its former governor, said William Bourdon, the lawyer who initially brought legal action against Riad Salameh in France, on Friday.

The move could trigger new developments in the corruption case and provide access to key banking documents that have been kept secret at the institution until now. It has been initiated under the new management of the Banque du Liban (BDL), headed by Wassim Mansouri since last July.

A senior official confirmed the development, adding that the BDL has been a civil party in Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Lebanon for months.

Mr Salameh is suspected of having embezzled more than $330 million in public money through a slush fund set up at the central bank for him and his family to acquire properties in Europe and the US. The central bank is legally considered an aggrieved party due to the alleged crimes of its former head.

“When a bank becomes a civil party against a former head, it means that it is now a victim and has the right to be compensated for the damages suffered,” Mr Bourdon told The National.

Mr Salameh has denied any wrongdoing in the corruption cases brought against him.

The news of BDL joining the investigation was a “positive step”, Mr Bourdon said, but he remained cautious regarding its co-operation in the case with a foreign judiciary.

“There are signs of significant flows in BDL's accounts that explain how the Salameh clan operated. They have not been brought to the judge's attention until now,” he said.

“If the civil party [the central bank] co-operates in good faith, it could help open new chapters. Will it do so? That's the question. If not, it would reveal the opportunistic nature of the move.”

Several European countries, including France, are investigating Mr Salameh over alleged embezzlement.

Once lauded as a financial wizard, Mr Salameh is now widely seen as one of the main reasons behind Lebanon's unprecedented economic collapse.

He has repeatedly denied all allegations.

The French lawyer said that in some cases civil parties have effectively acted as a “shield to prevent prosecutions against the legal entity” by withholding crucial information.

Fast-paced investigation

As an international lawyer, Mr Bourdon has focused on the restitution of ill-gotten assets, known in French as “biens mal acquits”, a phrase which refers to the fortunes of corrupt leaders from poorer countries sheltered in western capitals.

He said the French investigation into Mr Salameh is one of “the fastest and most intensely conducted” with which he has been involved.

He expects the inquiry to be concluded in 2025, followed by a trial.

The probe was opened in 2021, after Mr Bourdon and French lawyer Amelie Lefebvre lodged a complaint before the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the anti-corruption NGO Sherpa in 2021, along with the Collectif des Victimes des Pratiques Frauduleuses et Criminelles au Liban.

It quickly gained momentum, with the creation of an international investigative team involving Germany and Luxembourg, resulting in €120 million ($132 million) of assets tied to Mr Salameh being frozen in 2023 through joint action.

Riad Salameh speaks during his days as Lebanon's central bank governor. Reuters
Riad Salameh speaks during his days as Lebanon's central bank governor. Reuters

In May 2023, the French judiciary issued an arrest warrant for Riad Salameh.

It had previously ordered the investigation of four people apparently involved in the alleged embezzlement scandal; Mr Salameh's romantic partner, Anna Kosakova, Lebanese banker Marwan Kheireddine, Marianne Hoayek, a senior adviser at the BDL and a former assistant to the Mr Salameh, and Antoine Gholam, the manager of Lebanese auditor firm, BDO Semaan.

In the same year Mr Salameh also had an Interpol red notice issued against him and had sanctions imposed by the US, UK and Canada, while a multimillion-dollar property empire was seized.

Mr Bourdon said he expected new developments and names to be implicated.

“There are still missing pieces of the puzzle that the French investigating judges are working on,” Mr Bourdon said.

“This could potentially extend to new individuals.”

In the event of a conviction, the funds could be returned to the aggrieved parties – in this case, the BDL or the state, which has been a civil party in the French case since March 2023.

This paves the way for Lebanon to recover the alleged embezzled funds in the long run if Mr Salameh is convicted, in line with France's 2021 law on ill-gotten assets, which requests guarantees that recovered funds will not be returned to the same corrupt network.

New inquiries

Mr Bourdon, on behalf of Sherpa, the anti-corruption organisation he founded, has set his sights on other major figures of Lebanon's political elite.

In April, he filed a complaint with French prosecutors along with French lawyer Vincent Brengarth, accusing Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati of alleged money laundering. The Mikati family has denied the allegations.

“Additional elements have been provided to the PNF [France's National Prosecutor's Office] and we are waiting for their response,” Mr Bourdon said, adding that he is expecting bridges between the Salameh and Mikati files to be revealed.

Mr Bourdon said he is also considering filing another complaint to investigate the conditions under which billions of dollars were transferred abroad at the onset of the crisis in October 2019.

These large sums allegedly benefited well-connected Lebanese elite, while most depositors were locked out of their savings as the national currency spiralled on the parallel market, losing 98 per cent of its value.

Regarding potential new complaints, Mr Bourdon said they are working on new files over which the French judiciary could have legal jurisdiction and which could “concern prominent figures or banks”.

As the foreign judiciary gathers momentum on the Lebanese corruption file, local inquiries into financial corruption have ground to a halt due to political intervention.

One investigation into Mr Salameh that opened in 2021 has faced considerable hurdles and is now in limbo.

Yet, Mr Bourdon said he remains hopeful.

“A legal procedure cannot itself unsettle predation mechanisms in a country, but it can push to a threshold from which fear can start to shift,” he said.

“We are far from this, but we must remain hopeful of reaching this point."

Desert Warrior

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Rating: 3/5

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RESULTS

 

Catchweight 63.5kg: Shakriyor Juraev (UZB) beat Bahez Khoshnaw (IRQ). Round 3 TKO (body kick)

Lightweight: Nart Abida (JOR) beat Moussa Salih (MAR). Round 1 by rear naked choke

Catchweight 79kg: Laid Zerhouni (ALG) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ). Round 1 TKO (punches)

Catchweight 58kg: Omar Al Hussaini (UAE) beat Mohamed Sahabdeen (SLA) Round 1 rear naked choke

Flyweight: Lina Fayyad (JOR) beat Sophia Haddouche (ALG) Round 2 TKO (ground and pound)

Catchweight 80kg: Badreddine Diani (MAR) beat Sofiane Aïssaoui (ALG) Round 2 TKO

Flyweight: Sabriye Sengul (TUR) beat Mona Ftouhi (TUN). Unanimous decision

Middleweight: Kher Khalifa Eshoushan (LIB) beat Essa Basem (JOR). Round 1 rear naked choke

Heavyweight: Mohamed Jumaa (SUD) beat Hassen Rahat (MAR). Round 1 TKO (ground and pound)

Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammad Ali Musalim (UAE beat Omar Emad (EGY). Round 1 triangle choke

Catchweight 62kg: Ali Taleb (IRQ) beat Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR). Round 2 KO

Catchweight 88kg: Mohamad Osseili (LEB) beat Samir Zaidi (COM). Unanimous decision

French business

France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.

The biog

Age: 46

Number of Children: Four

Hobby: Reading history books

Loves: Sports

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

Gifts exchanged
  • King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
  • Queen Camilla -  Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch
  • Donald Trump - hand-bound leather book with Declaration of Independence
  • Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag
Company profile

Date started: December 24, 2018

Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer

Based: Dubai Media City

Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)

Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech

Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year

Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

Favourite hobby: Football

Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

THE SPECS

BMW X7 xDrive 50i

Engine: 4.4-litre V8

Transmission: Eight-speed Steptronic transmission

Power: 462hp

Torque: 650Nm

Price: Dh600,000

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UAE Rugby finals day

Games being played at The Sevens, Dubai

2pm, UAE Conference final

Dubai Tigers v Al Ain Amblers

4pm, UAE Premiership final

Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons

Updated: July 15, 2024, 6:15 AM