Regarding financial transfers belonging to Riad Salameh
Lebanon receives a correspondence from Switzerland regarding an investigation of the governor of the Central Bank.
Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh.
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The Lebanese judiciary received a correspondence from the Swiss authorities, including a request for assistance in a criminal investigation, which it is conducting regarding financial transfers belonging to the governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, and those close to him, according to what a high judicial source said yesterday.
The correspondence touched on transfers worth 400 million dollars, belonging to Salama, his brother, his assistant, and institutions affiliated with the Central Bank, including the Middle East Airlines and Lebanon Casino, according to the source.
Salama’s office denied, in a statement: “All allegations about alleged financial transfers that he made abroad, whether in his name, in the name of his brother or in the name of his assistance,” considering them “fabrications, and false news that has no basis.”
The Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, which often criticizes Salameh and the banking sector, was the first to report that Lebanon received the correspondence in its issue issued yesterday.
It stated that the investigations are being carried out within a file that includes a large number of Lebanese personalities, according to a "list of suspicions", prepared "in cooperation between France, Britain and the United States."
There was no official comment from the Swiss side in this regard.
The correspondence was placed "under study by the cassation attorney general, Judge Ghassan Oweidat," according to what the judicial source told "Agence France Presse", explaining that Lebanon received it "directly from the Swiss embassy in Beirut", in an "unusual way, and from outside diplomatic channels."
The correspondence requests, according to the source, to provide the Swiss authorities with answers to a set of questions that should be posed to Salameh and the two aforementioned persons.
But "it did not contain evidence or documents that prove or reinforce the suspicions it is talking about."
The source said, "If they handed over these evidence to Lebanon, the case would have been the subject of a crime, and he would be prosecuted," safety from the Lebanese judiciary.
Political parties in Lebanon held Salameh responsible for the collapse of the national currency.
And sharply criticize the monetary policies it adopted over the past years, as it accumulated debt.
However, Salameh repeatedly defended himself, by asserting that the Central Bank "financed the state, but did not spend the money."
Analysts and observers talk about political leaders and officials, including Salama, transferring huge sums of money from their accounts abroad, following the unprecedented popular demonstrations that broke out in October 2019 against the political class.
And these funds were transferred despite the imposition of strict restrictions by banks that prevent the transfer of large sums abroad.
The Lebanese judiciary is investigating these transfers, with estimates ranging from one billion to more than two billion dollars.
The judiciary had previously sent several correspondence to the Swiss authorities, providing it with information about these transfers.
However, she "ignored his requests," according to the source.
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Safety Office denied «all allegations of financial transfers abroad».
Political parties in Lebanon hold Salameh responsible for the collapse of the currency.
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