BEIRUT, Aug 10 (Reuters) – A Lebanese judge on Monday indicted former central bank governor Riad Salameh and a former commercial banker, accusing them of financial crimes including embezzlement and illicit enrichment, a senior Lebanese judicial source told Reuters.
Salameh, who headed the Lebanese Central Bank for three decades, has already been indicted and arrested in Lebanon over other alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure. He has denied any wrongdoing.
On Monday, a Lebanese judge accused him and Samir Hanna, the former head of Lebanon’s Bank Audi, of embezzling tens of millions in funds from the Lebanese central bank, the judicial source said. The source said the file includes accusations that Hanna bribed Salameh while he was central bank governor.
It is the first time a commercial banker has been indicted in a financial crimes case related to Salameh, showing that Lebanese investigations into the former governor are expanding to the private sector, the source said.
Salameh did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Hanna could not immediately be reached for comment.
The former governor is currently in custody but is under medical supervision at a government hospital outside Beirut, after having missed a hearing over the case. Hanna, 88, paid a $1 million bail and is not in custody as financial investigations continue.
In January, Lebanon’s current central bank governor Karim Souaid told reporters that the central bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of the central bank, a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds. He said the operations were carried out through four offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands that he did not name.
Accountability Now, a Swiss foundation that has worked to investigate Salameh, said in a post on social media platform X on Monday that the indictment covered the suspected embezzlement of $154 million in 2010 and $102 million in 2012.
Salameh was detained for about 13 months over alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure and was released in September after paying record bail of more than $14 million.
He also faces investigations abroad, including in France, Switzerland and Germany.
(Reporting and writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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