Banque du Liban headquarters in Beirut. (Credit: file photo/OLJ)
BEIRUT – Marwan Issa El-Khoury, the attorney representing Raja Salameh, the brother of Banque du Liban governor Riad Salameh, issued a statement to address Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Ghada Aoun’s arrest of his client, categorically denying allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering.
Here’s what we know:
• Ghada Aoun’s pursuit of Raja Salameh is in connection to an investigation into a Eurobond and Treasury Bond brokerage contract signed between BDL and Forry Associates Ltd. which involved the transfer of $330 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2004 to the alleged illicit benefit of Salameh. The funds reportedly circulated between various accounts owned by Salameh in Switzerland and Lebanon as well as those of firms tied to BDL Governor Riad Salameh. Similar investigations have been launched by authorities in Europe.
• Raja Salameh appeared for questioning by Ghada Aoun on Thursday, according to the statement. However, he was kept in custody following the interrogation which his legal representative asserted to be a “violation of the basic rules of evidence [based justice].”
• The statement described the reports of shell companies having been set-up in France and Switzerland as “astonishing,” claiming that the companies accused of being fronts were “established according to French and Swiss law, their contributors are known, their operations are usual and they have paid their taxes since their establishment.”
• Khoury also denied allegations that Raja Salameh served as a figurehead for his brother in shady business transactions, noting that the central bank governor’s brother’s held only a 1 percent ownership stake of the real estate company SCI ZEL, which has been at the center of some of the allegations, and left his role as director in 2015. The statement affirmed that auditors with access to Forry’s books could disprove the illegal transfer from it to other companies and that the ZEL and BET firms to which Raja Salameh is tied were funded through “traceable” private equity and bank loans.
• Aoun has told media that she also intends to press charges against Riad Salameh, with some reporting that she intends to attempt to arrest him on Monday.