A judicial source told Lebanon orally on Tuesday that the German judiciary had issued an arrest warrant against Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh, Al Jazeera correspondent quoted a judicial source as saying.
The source explained that Lebanon has not yet officially received the German arrest warrant.
The International Police Organization (Interpol) has issued an international arrest warrant for Salameh in connection with a French arrest warrant issued against him.
Last Friday, the French prosecutor in charge of financial issues confirmed in a statement the issuance of an arrest warrant against Salameh on charges of corruption, forgery, forming a criminal gang for money laundering and embezzlement. Salameh denies any wrongdoing after missing a court hearing that was supposed to be held in Paris at the time.
Immediately after the warrant was issued, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Interpol had handed his country an arrest warrant for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.
Mawlawi's media office told Anadolu correspondent that his ministry will implement Interpol's warrant to arrest Riad Salameh if the Lebanese judiciary decides to adopt it.
On Tuesday, Banque du Liban Governor Salameh announced in a statement his intention to appeal against a French judicial decision that included the issuance of an international arrest warrant against him, on charges of financial corruption.
European investigations
On May 3, three European judicial delegations completed hearing Lebanese bankers, led by the governor of the Central Bank, as part of investigations into corruption cases.
Their work is focused on hearing a group of bankers, as witnesses in corruption cases investigated by the judiciary in their countries.
On February 23, the Lebanese judiciary charged the governor of the central bank with crimes including embezzlement of public funds and money laundering.
In 2021, Swiss prosecutors sent a letter to Lebanon about the suspicion that Salameh and his brother Raja illegally seized more than $300 million from the bank between 2002 and 2015, laundering money in Switzerland.
The judiciary in Luxembourg also investigated a criminal case related to the wealth of the governor of the Banque du Liban, while in June 2021 the French judiciary conducted an investigation into his accounts on charges of "money laundering", without announcing the results of those investigations, knowing that Salameh usually denies the validity of the accusations.