Judges from France, Germany and Luxembourg went to Beirut as part of the investigation into the heritage of the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon.
By Hélène Sallon (Beirut, correspondent)
Anti -corruption lawyers in Lebanon and Europe are convinced: the opening of a money laundering trial against the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon (BDL), Riad Salamé, in several European countries, including France , is inevitable. The visit to Beirut de judges from Germany, France and Luxembourg, which ended on Friday January 20, has made it possible to initiate cooperation with the Lebanese judicial authorities, hitherto hampered by the Politico-Financial Oligarchy . Riad Salamé and his relatives could be heard by European judges in Lebanon in February.
“The visit was a catalyst, comments Zena Wakim, a lawyer in the Swiss Accountability Now Foundation, at the origin of complaints in Europe against Mr. Salamé. There is a awakening of civil society and launchers alert which did not exist until then. The political class understands that despite obstructions, there will always be ways to obtain information. This weakens the defense of Riad Salamé, which says that the file is empty . “Accountability now has been approached by Lebanese financial actors wishing to share information. A platform will be made available to whistleblowers, offering legal assistance and protection. According to sources close to the investigation, a person from the entourage of Riad Salamé also offered his cooperation in Luxembourg.
The heritage of the Grand Lebanese Argentier, aged 72, is at the heart of open surveys in at least six European countries – Germany, Belgium, France, Liechstenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Their cooperation, facilitated by the European Agency for Judicial Cooperation (Eurojust), made it possible to disentangle part of the skein of holdings, accounts and properties held by the boss of the BDL and his entourage through Europe . France, Germany and Luxembourg have frozen 120 million euros in assets, including those of Riad Salamé and his younger brother, Raja, in March 2022. Anna Kosakova, a Ukrainian with whom the governor had a daughter Excluding marriage, was indicted by French justice in December 2022.
The former business banker says he has made a fortune thanks to investments made, legally, from the heritage of 23 million dollars he held when he took the lead in BDL in 1993. The Swiss justice suspects it, it, of having diverted more than $ 330 million from commissions on the sale of BDL financial securities between 2002 and 2015, within the framework of a brokerage contract with the company Forry, owned by Raja Salamé. European magistrates, who doubt the reality of the work carried out by Forry, suspect that the money was transferred to Switzerland, then to bank accounts held by Raja Salamé in Lebanon, before being used to buy properties in Europe.
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