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The veteran former governor of Lebanon’s central bank was arrested in Beirut on Tuesday as part of a long-running investigation into corruption allegations, according to a senior judicial source and a person with knowledge of the matter.
Riad Salameh, 74, led the Banque du Liban for 30 years before stepping down just over a year ago. His final years at the institution were dogged by controversy and accusations that he engaged in financial mismanagement and criminal behavior.
Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh are accused of siphoning off at least $330 million in public funds and laundering them through a maze of international bank accounts and offshore accounts linked to his family and associates.
Although Salameh had previously been charged by a Lebanese investigating judge over the scheme, his detention on Tuesday was related to new charges of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud, the sources said. He is expected to remain in police custody for four days while investigators continue to question him about the newer charges.
Salameh has been the focus of years of judicial investigations in his home country, the US and at least seven European countries, investigating several allegations of financial crimes related to the alleged embezzlement of these funds.
France and Germany issued arrest warrants for him in 2023, the same year he was sanctioned by the US, UK and Canada over allegations that he abused the powers of his office “to engage in a variety of unlawful self-enrichment schemes”.
He has been widely blamed by the Lebanese public for his role in ushering in Lebanon’s ruinous economic and financial collapse in 2019, becoming the public face of Lebanon’s downward spiral.
The World Bank called the financial crisis a “deliberate depression orchestrated by the country’s elite, which has long captured the state and had to live off its economic proceeds.”
Salameh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Riad and his brother Raja Salameh have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, with Salameh saying his wealth was built up in his years as an investment banker and subsequent wise investments.
Salameh was summoned on Tuesday as part of the Lebanese judiciary’s sweeping investigation, which has repeatedly stalled amid what critics have described as political interference. He has previously been charged with financial crimes in connection with the $330 million scheme in Lebanon, but has so far managed to avoid detention.
He is expected to remain in pre-trial detention while he faces further questioning about his and BdL’s transactions with Optimum Invest, a Lebanese brokerage firm, the sources said.
The state’s National News Agency said Salameh was detained after being questioned in connection with “the Optimum dossier.”
Specifically, investigators allege that the BdL and Optimum worked together between 2015 and 2018 to buy and sell government bonds and certificates of deposit at rapid turnover to make large profits through commissions, the sources said. The allegations against Salameh include embezzlement, money laundering and fraud.
Although similar in nature, the Optimum charges are separate from the case of the $330 million in public funds allegedly embezzled through Forry Associates, a company controlled by Salameh’s brother Raja.
Optimum did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement on its website, the company said a 2023 financial audit found “no evidence of misconduct or illegality” in the company’s dealings with the BdL.
Lebanon is currently governed by an interim cabinet with limited powers, which has not appointed a new BdL governor. Instead, Salameh’s former deputy governor has been at the helm of the monetary authority.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would not intervene in the case. “Justice said what it had to say, and we respect this decision,” Justice Minister Henri Khoury said.