A decide dominated Monday that Lebanon’s former central financial institution chief will stay in detention amid a probe into alleged monetary crimes dedicated throughout his tenure, together with embezzlement of tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from state coffers.
Lebanon’s Financial Public Prosecution division charged Riad Salameh final week with embezzlement of $42 million after being detained following an interrogation by the nation’s prime public prosecutor over a number of alleged monetary crimes.
Salameh has maintained that he’s harmless.
On Monday, after Salameh appeared at a court docket listening to, Judge Bilal Halawi issued an arrest warrant in opposition to him, which means he would stay behind bars whereas the case was being tried.
Halawi set one other listening to for Thursday, judicial sources informed Reuters.
Salameh’s media workplace has stated he wouldn’t remark publicly on the case, which is according to the regulation. It stated in a press release that he had cooperated prior to now with greater than 20 felony probes in Beirut and Mount Lebanon and was cooperating with the investigation after his detention.
Judicial officers stated Salameh organized with two attorneys to switch cash from the central financial institution by different accounts, ultimately reaching his personal.
Following the fees, Lebanon’s Justice Ministry filed a lawsuit in opposition to Salameh for alleged embezzlement of public funds.
Salameh ended his 30-year time period as central financial institution governor a 12 months in the past underneath a cloud, with a number of European nations investigating allegations of monetary crimes. Many in Lebanon blame him for the crippling monetary disaster that has gripped the nation since late 2019.
A judicial official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk publicly concerning the case stated Salameh appeared in court docket on the day of his arrest final week with no lawyer, believing that he had been summoned as a witness, not a suspect.
If the prosecution continues, it might mark a uncommon case of a serving or retired senior Lebanese official dealing with accountability in a system that critics say has lengthy shielded the elite.
Many Lebanese depositors noticed their financial savings dissipate or stay trapped in banks because of the plunging nationwide forex and collapse of the banking system.
A small group of protesters gathered outdoors the Justice Palace in Beirut to induce that Salameh stay behind bars.
“Everyone who collaborated with Riad Salameh, whether in the deep state or in the banks or the thieves and money launderers or the media that whitewashed Riad Salameh, they will all be with him” in jail, stated Elias Jaradeh, a part of a bunch of unbiased legislators who got here to workplace in 2022 on an anti-government and anti-corruption platform.
A bunch of protesters shouted “Thief!” as a convoy they believed was transporting Salameh entered the Justice Ministry constructing. Some of them struck one of many autos with their palms.
Salameh was appointed in 1993 and was initially celebrated for his function in steering an financial restoration after Lebanon’s 15-year civil battle and for protecting the financial system on an excellent keel throughout lengthy spells of political gridlock and turmoil.
He has denied allegations of corruption, embezzlement and illicit enrichment for years. He insists that his wealth comes from inherited properties, investments and his earlier job as an funding banker at Merrill Lynch.
Source: www.dailysabah.com