On Friday, European judges listened for three hours to Lebanese Finance Minister Youssef Al-Khalil in the context of an investigation into the property of the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon – Central Bank – Riad Salame, according to the court decision. A source told Agence France-Presse.
The source said, on condition of anonymity, that Al-Khalil answered more than 100 questions, as he was director of financial operations at the Banque du Liban before moving to the Ministry of Finance, and confirmed that “all transactions that took place in the Central Bank during his time in office were legitimate.”
The source added that the judges, who returned to Beirut two weeks ago as part of the investigation, “fulfilled their mission” after questioning him.
The wealth of Salama (72), one of the world’s longest-serving central bankers, was the focus of investigations in Lebanon and abroad two years ago as he is being prosecuted on several allegations, including embezzlement, money laundering, transfer them to accounts abroad and “illegal enrichment”.
During two hearings last March before European investigators, Riad Salameh denied transferring any money from the Banque du Liban to his personal accounts at home and abroad, criticizing what he called “bad faith and a thirst for prosecution” against him from several sides.
Investigators from France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg interrogated his brother Raju Salame for 6 hours yesterday Thursday about transfers of more than $300 million made by the two brothers.
And after refusing to appear before the judges for “medical reasons” last month, Raja Salameh answered, according to a court source, “about 140 questions related to his personal and Fawry accounts.”
European investigations focus on the relationship between Banque du Liban and Fore Associates, which is registered in the Virgin Islands and has an office in Beirut, and its economic beneficiary, Raja Salameh.
Created in 2001 by Mossac Fonseca, which was implicated in the Panama Papers scandals, the company is believed to have acted as an intermediary in the purchase of treasury bonds and Eurobonds from the Banque du Liban, receiving a subscription fee that was transferred to accounts Raji Salame is abroad, which Riad Salame denies.
France, Germany and Luxembourg froze €120 million worth of Lebanese assets a year ago after investigating Salameh and four of his closest associates, including his brother, on charges of money laundering and “embezzlement of more than €330 million in public funds in Lebanon.” million dollars and 5 million euros respectively between 2002 and 2021.”
According to the source, Al-Khalil denied knowing “how to buy Eurobonds or having information about Faury’s accounts.”
Investigators also listened to Nada Makhlouf, a Deloitte employee who has audited Banque du Liban accounts since 1994.
Riad Salameh was the architect of financial policy during the reconstruction of the Lebanese economy after the civil war (1975-1990).
However, with signs of economic collapse and the beginning of unprecedented popular uprisings in October 2019 against a political class accused of corruption and the primacy of the logic of deals in running the country, analysts and observers accused political leaders and officials, including Salameh, of transferring huge amounts of money from their accounts abroad.
The French judiciary summoned Riad Salameh to him on 16 May to file a formal charge against him.
