European team ends questioning of Lebanon Central Bank chief
By BASSEM MROUE
Posted 3/17/23
BEIRUT (AP) — A European legal team on Friday ended two days of questioning of Lebanon’s central bank chief in Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor.
Several European …
This story requires a subscription for $5.99/month.
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $5.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
European team ends questioning of Lebanon Central Bank chief
FILE - Riad Salameh, Lebanon's Central Bank governor, attends a news conference, in Beirut, on Nov. 11, 2019. Salameh on Thursday March 16, 2023, showed up for questioning for the first time before a European legal team visiting Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
Posted
By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — A European legal team on Friday ended two days of questioning of Lebanon’s central bank chief in Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor.
Several European countries are investigating Gov. Riad Salameh, who in recent years has been charged with corruption-related crimes. Salameh, 72, has been the head of Lebanon’s Central Bank since 1993.
Salameh was questioned for two hours Friday and six hours the day before, Lebanese judicial officials said. The European delegation — with representatives from France, Germany, and Luxembourg — questioned Salameh through a Lebanese judge, acting as a go-between. Under Lebanese laws, the representatives cannot directly question Salameh.
On Thursday, the team asked Salameh about an apartment in Paris’ Champs Elysee rented by the central bank and Forry Associates Ltd, a brokerage firm owned by Salameh's brother, Raja, on whether the company existed, the officials said. They added that Salameh was “confident” when he responded to the questions in French.
Salameh’s questioning was scheduled to begin Wednesday but he did not show up.
The European team has set April 15 to start questioning the governor's brother, Raja Salameh and the governor's associate, Marianne Hoayek, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Salameh, who has repeatedly denied charges of corruption, has not made any public statements since his questioning started this week.
In addition to the European probe, there are other legal proceedings against Salameh underway in Lebanon. In late February, Beirut’s public prosecutor, Raja Hamoush, charged the same three suspects — the governor, his brother and the aide — with corruption, including embezzling public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment, money-laundering and violation of tax laws.
The European delegation is investigating the laundering of some $330 million.
Lebanon is grappling with the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. The economic meltdown that began in late 2019 is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s political class. More than 75% of the tiny nation’s population of 6 million has been plunged into poverty.