Lebanon ex-PM Najib Mikati under French fraud investigation

Two organisations have accused the billionaire of financial crimes - which Mikati family denies

Najib Matiki is one of the richest men in Lebanon and has an estimated $3.2 billion fortune. AFP

French investigators have opened an investigation into Lebanon's former prime minister Najib Mikati, whose billionaire fortune is under the scrutiny of anti-corruption campaigners, a source at the French prosecutor’s office told The National.

The source did not disclose the allegations. But the investigation follows a complaint filed last year by two organisations which alleged that Mr Mikati's wealth, invested in France and abroad, was fraudulent.

Mr Mikati has served as prime minister several times, most recently leaving office in January. Born in Tripoli, he is one of the richest men in Lebanon, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion.

The Mikati family denied the allegations in a statement, saying they have “received no notification from the French judicial authorities and only became aware of this complaint and the alleged opening of an investigation through the press”.

“The origin of the Mikati family’s wealth is ethical, legal, and transparent,” it said. “The result of several decades of work and international investments – in sectors such as telecoms, real estate, finance, and energy – and well before any public office in Lebanon, this wealth has always been structured in accordance with international governance standards.”

Complaints filed

The two organisations that filed the complaint were a French-Lebanese “victims' collective” called CVPFCL, which focuses on financial crime, and an anti-corruption group, Sherpa.

The complaints, seen by The National, map out part of the Mikati family’s properties in France and abroad, alleging complex ownership structures tied to offshore entities involving, among others, Mr Mikati’s brother Taha, his son Maher, and his nephew Azmi.

The lawyers behind the complaints, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, alleged that the network of offshore organisations, which own several French property companies, points to possible tax fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes.

The complaint was supplemented with additional elements in April 2025.

Mr Mikati, a telecoms tycoon and former shareholder in Bank Audi, one of Lebanon’s biggest banks, most recently returned as prime minister in 2021. Opponents accused him of belonging to the same financial and political elite blamed for driving the country into a crushing economic crisis.

His rescue cabinet was criticised for doing little to address what the World Bank has called a “deliberate” economic depression orchestrated by Lebanon’s elite after decades of corruption. Mr Mikati rejected the accusation.

Sherpa, a French NGO specialising in the fight against economic crimes, and the CVPFCL, established by depositors who lost their life savings in the financial crisis, are the plaintiffs who filed a 2021 complaint in France against former Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh, who is accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars.