The Salameh Papers: Special report into allegations against former Lebanon banking chief
A Lebanese prosecutor has issued new charges against former central bank governor Riad Salameh over alleged financial crimes.
Judge Raja Hamouche also indicted Samir Hanna, the former head of one of Lebanon's largest banks, Bank Audi.
The charges relate to the alleged “establishment of fictitious companies, the seizure of funds belonging to the [central] Bank of Lebanon, and the use of these funds to buy shares and bonds from commercial banks in fraudulent ways, in addition to illicit enrichment, money laundering and bribery”, the charge sheet says.
Judge Hamouche referred the case to Beirut's first investigating judge, Rola Othman, and issued arrest warrants for both men.
The file includes accusations that Mr Hanna, 88, bribed Mr Salameh, 76, while the latter was central bank governor, Reuters reported.
It is the first time a commercial banker has been indicted in a financial crimes case related to Mr Salameh, suggesting that the Lebanese investigations are expanding to the private sector.
For Mr Salameh, who spent three decades at the helm of the central bank, it adds yet more accusations to his long rap sheet.
He is being detained at the Dahr El Bachek government hospital, where he was moved from the notorious Roumieh Prison last week.
Mr Salameh's family and legal team have repeatedly claimed his health has deteriorated, which Lebanon's judiciary has denied. Sources have said he has a blood pressure problem that is under control, but last week he refused to undergo a medical examination, including an electrocardiogram and respiratory tests, at the government hospital.
He was arrested on July 31 at Bhannes Hospital, north of the capital Beirut, after failing to appear before a judge for questioning a day earlier. His family has asked for him to be moved back to Bhannes Hospital.
In January, Karim Souaid, Mr Salameh's successor as governor, told reporters that the central bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of that bank, as well as a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds.
Mr Souaid said the alleged operations were carried out through four offshore shell companies, which he did not name, in the Cayman Islands.
For decades, Mr Salameh was one of Lebanon’s most influential people and was even touted as a potential presidential candidate. However, his arrest in September 2024 on accusations of embezzling public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment and money laundering shattered the image of a man who was once lauded as the guardian of the country's financial sector.
He has become a figure of ridicule and hate in Lebanon in the wake of its 2019 economic crisis, the effects of which reverberate today. That crisis was blamed on decades of financial mismanagement and corruption among the Lebanese elite, including Mr Salameh.
It saw the local currency plummet in value by more than 95 per cent on the parallel dollar market, while informal capital controls implemented by the banks meant vast numbers of depositors were locked out of their savings – a situation that continues.
