Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Ghada Aoun. (Archival photo Marc Fayad)
BEIRUT — Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Ghada Aoun intends to press charges against the governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, along with his younger brother Raja, who she arrested Thursday, according to The National, among other media sources. The Emirati newspaper added that Judge Aoun will also send police to detain the central bank governor on Monday,
Here’s what we know:
• On Thursday Reuters cited a judicial source as saying that Aoun had charged Raja Salameh with "complicity in illicit enrichment," which also implicated his brother Riad.
• In 2020, Swiss authorities launched a probe into BDL’s payment of more than $330 million in brokerage fees to Forry Associates Ltd between 2002 and 2014. Forry Associates Ltd is owned by Raja Salameh and was registered in the Virgin Islands in 2001.
• Judge Aoun opened an investigation into Riad Salemeh on suspicion of fraud in the period preceding Lebanon’s 2019 financial collapse. Critics have accused President Michel Aoun of directing the judge to issue a subpoena against the BDL governor, although Aoun’s office had denied such claims.