Lebanon’s public prosecutor has issued a 30-day wanted notice against banker Antoun Sehnaoui for “dealing with the Israeli enemy” after he was seen having dinner with Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
The notice was issued after technical experts verified the authenticity of photographs showing Mr Sehnaoui sharing a dinner table with the Israeli Prime Minister during his visit to the US, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Mr Sehnaoui, who hosted the dinner alongside his partner, US diplomat Morgan Ortagus, faces charges of “dealing with the Israeli enemy and violating Lebanon's boycott law against Israel”.
Under Lebanese law, citizens and residents are banned from engaging in direct dealings with Israelis or Israeli institutions, with violations punishable by prison.
Mr Sehnaoui has lived outside Lebanon for several years and has publicly advocated for establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. But the photos of him with Mr Netanyahu at a memorial dinner for US senator Lindsey Graham provoked anger across Lebanon given Israel's attacks on the country, which have killed more than 4,300 people, and its continued occupation and destruction of vast areas of the south.
Mr Sehnaoui is also facing a lawsuit filed by a group of lawyers at the Court of Cassation in Beirut.
“By law, any communication of any kind, any meeting directly or indirectly with any person who has an Israeli passport, is illegal,” Maan Alasaad, the lawyer who filed the case, told The National.
“We will not accept any breaking of the constitution or the law. We will not be afraid to fight.”
The meeting with Mr Netanyahu is the latest in a series of controversies involving Mr Sehnaoui.
As chairman of Societe Generale de Banque au Liban, one of Lebanon’s largest banks, Mr Sehnaoui faces charges over alleged money laundering linked to currency trading operations during the financial crisis that began in 2019. The bank denies any wrongdoing.
The Lebanese economic collapse, from which the country has yet to recover, was described as one of the worst in modern history by the World Bank. It was blamed on decades of financial mismanagement and corruption by Lebanon's ruling elite, including senior bankers.
Investigators have reported allegations that SGBL enabled capital flight and benefitted from financial engineering associated with former central bank governor Riad Salameh.
Mr Sehnaoui hosted the Washington dinner “using the money that the Lebanese people have been robbed of from the banks”, Mr Alasaad said.
