Banque du Liban Gov. Riad Salameh said he woud sue Bloomberg for a repor that the US was considering sanctions against him. (Credit: AFP/Joseph Eid)
BEIRUT — Banque du Liban Gov. Riad Salameh has dubbed as “treasonous” a Bloomberg News report that the US was weighing sanctions against him and said he would sue, raising concerns over press freedom.
In a statement, Salameh’s office claimed Bloomberg’s bombshell article amounted to “national treason that affects the country’s financial security” and its ability to escape the economic crisis.
Salameh’s lawsuits will target not only Bloomberg News and the outlet’s Beirut correspondent, but “everyone who stands behind them over crimes of fabricating news, insulting and attempting to discredit” the governor of Banque du Liban.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration was mulling slapping sanctions on Salameh, who has headed Lebanon’s central bank since 1993. Washington has since denied the report.
Four people quoted by Bloomberg said that officials within the US administration have weighed the possibility of targeting Salameh in coordination with their European counterparts.
The report comes in the wake of Switzerland’s announcement on Jan. 19 that it was looking into “aggravated money laundering in connection with possible embezzlement to the detriment of the Banque du Liban.”
While Switzerland has not formally announced Salameh as a suspect, Lebanon’s state news agency reported Feb. 2 that a Swiss request for legal assistance from Beirut pertained to financial transfers abroad made by Salameh, his brother and an assistant.
According to Bloomberg, the Swiss probe is looking into whether “Salameh indirectly benefited from the sale of Lebanese Eurobonds held in the central bank’s portfolio between 2002 and 2016.”
“The [Swiss] investigation also involves other jurisdictions, including the UK and France, where authorities are reviewing Salameh’s links to properties, shell companies and overseas bank transfers,” Bloomberg reported.
As Bloomberg’s report made rounds, the US embassy spokesperson was quick to deny the claims, telling L’Orient Today that the report was false.
Salameh’s sharp response, threatening to sue Bloomberg and its correspondent in Lebanon, Dana Khraiche, has raised new concerns about press freedoms in Lebanon.
“It’s not the first time Lebanon’s powerful players threaten to use the judiciary to silence journalists who describe Lebanon’s collapsing economy or denounce wrongful acts,” Ayman Mhanna, the director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, told L’Orient Today.
In October 2019, a report in The Economist drew the ire of Lebanon’s elite after it delved into the country’s dollar shortage, the downturn in deposit growth in commercial banks and declining unofficial dollar exchange rates.
In response, a group of lawyers filed a complaint in Lebanon’s Court of Cassation against the publication arguing that the report damaged the reputation and financial status of the Lebanese state.
“Earlier a bank filed legal action against a citizen deploring empty ATMs. ... The real test is the independence of the judiciary, and whether the judiciary will seek to protect powerful players within the system or citizens’ right to information,” Mhanna said.
Lebanon lacks a “specific constitutional principle beyond the right to freedom of expression,” Mhanna noted, but journalists benefit from not being sued before a regular court.
“It happens before the publications court, which provides some guarantees and additional rights, for example, not being questioned by police officers, but by a judge.”