Former Lebanese economy minister Amin Salam was arrested on Wednesday following an investigation into alleged financial crimes, a senior judicial source has told The National.
Mr Salam was arrested by order of Judge Jamal Hajjar, Lebanon’s top prosecutor at the Court of Cassation. The former minister is being investigated for alleged falsification, embezzlement of public funds and blackmailing insurance companies.
He was questioned several times in May by Judge Hajjar and has been placed under house arrest and issued with a travel ban.
The investigation also involves Mr Salam’s brother and business partner, Karim Salam, who has been in detention since April, the judicial source said.
The former minister's arrest follows a complaint filed two months ago by Lebanese MP Farid Boustany, who chairs the parliamentary economy committee, over allegations of “embezzlement, extortion and waste of public funds”.
The committee alleges Mr Salam awarded overpriced contracts to foreign firms for services that did not justify the costs, and misappropriated funds from the Insurance Companies Contribution Fund, which is overseen by the Economy Ministry.
At a press conference in March, Mr Salam denied any wrongdoing and slammed what he described as “attacks” against him. He denounced entrenched “mafias” who opposed reforms, and accused Mr Boustany of having personal motives behind the complaint.
In an interview with The National in January, weeks before a new government was installed, Mr Salam called for an end to the old corrupt political class, which he described as “a virus in the body, fighting back in every way possible”.
“They see [government] as a deal where they want the biggest share and profit,” he said.
On June 2, the acting head of the State Litigation Department, Judge Claude Ghanem, filed a complaint against Mr Salam with Judge Hajjar, following a request from current Economy Minister Amer Bsat, Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour reported.
