Members of the radical Islamist movement "Hizb ut-Tahrir" protest in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, on April 28, 2023, against the deportation of Syrian refugees. (Credit: Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP)
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European investigators probing alleged corruption by Banque du Liban (BDL) governor Riad Salameh yesterday questioned central bank senior director Raja Abou Asli while Salameh’s brother Raja skipped his scheduled hearing for a third time. A lawyer for Raja Salameh requested the hearing to be postponed until today, local media outlets reported, after he skipped two hearings last week due to alleged health reasons. The French, German and Luxembourgian investigators are also scheduled to question Nada Makhlouf, who will be the third BDL auditor they question this week. Last week, the visiting judges held two hearings with Marianne Hoayek — Riad Salameh’s former assistant and, along with Raja Salameh, his alleged co-conspirator in defrauding the central bank — according to charges filed against her by a Lebanese judge. The trio is suspected of having embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of BDL funds that were allegedly stored in European real estate and bank deposits. These funds were seized amid probes into the central bank chief by at least five European countries. Salameh and his associates have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Lebanon rose 11 places in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 21st annual country ranking of press freedom worldwide. The RSF released the report yesterday to mark World Press Freedom Day, placing Lebanon 119th out of the 180 countries evaluated through “the answers of hundreds of press freedom experts” and “a quantitative survey of abuses committed against journalists.” RSF found that despite a “freedom of tone” in Lebanese media, freedom is hampered by the majority of media’s direct relations to political parties, “huge budget cuts” caused by the economic crisis and “attempts to paralyze the investigation” into the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion. Last year, Lebanon fell by 23 places to the 130th position in the RSF ranking, citing broad defamation laws, harassment of journalists and discrimination. Last month, security forces summoned the heads of two media outlets, leading to several protests in solidarity with the journalists decrying a perceived overstep of authority. And last November, the Samir Kassir Foundation's SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom documented more than 800 violations of freedom of expression in Lebanon since 2016.
Banque du Liban’s press office told L’Orient Today that it does not plan to renew Circular No. 161, which allows the purchase of dollars at the stronger central bank Sayrafa rate, but said the measures for civil servants will remain in effect. BDL did not renew the circular this month for the first time in 15 months. Increases to the amount of dollars that can be purchased at the Sayrafa rate, and increases to the rate itself, have previously helped halt rapid lira losses on the parallel market. The circular’s ability to reduce parallel exchange market volatility, however, has been called into question by experts for a perceived lack of sustainability or reliability.
Saudi Arabian ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari stressed “the need to accelerate the presidential election,” amid a prolonged presidential vacuum with no 12th Parliamentary election session in sight. Saudi Arabia’s comments follow similar calls by US and Iranian officials. Bukhari expressed his refusal of the presidential vacuum after meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The same day, local daily al-Joumhouriya published an interview with Berri in which he said a 12th election session would be called when “there are one or two serious candidates in the other camp” — reiterating his support for Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh, also backed by Hezbollah. “If Sleiman Frangieh decides to reposition himself at equal distance from the political parties ... we have no problem supporting him,” Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel said yesterday after meeting with deputy Parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab — after a streak of comments refusing to support any candidates backed by Hezbollah and its allies. Lebanon has been without a president since Nov. 1.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Lebanese evacuees recount ‘terror,’ passage from Sudan frontlines”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz