Former Governor of Banque du Liban (BDL), Riad Salameh. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Several lawyers from the grassroots protest movement "Pioneers of Justice" filed a denunciation on Thursday with the Financial Prosecutor's Office via the Cassation Prosecutor's Office against Emile Raja Salameh, nephew of Riad Salameh.
Riad Salameh, the former governor of Banque du Liban (BDL), was indicted a few weeks earlier in Paris in a case concerning ill-gotten gains.
Lawyers from the "Pioneers of Justice" — a collective led by lawyer Haitham Ezzo — called on the judiciary to summon 38-year-old Emile Salameh, arrest and initiate public proceedings against him. They accused him of laundering illicit funds from the Central Bank, participating in the embezzlement of public funds and forming a criminal association to commit crimes against state funds.
The lawyers also called for the case to be referred to the competent authority and for all details of Emile Salameh's companies in Lebanon to be seized to guarantee the recovery of the public money he has stolen in association with others.
They asked the courts to prevent Emile Salameh, the son of Raja Salameh (Riad's brother), from disposing of his assets and property.
Emile Salameh was charged on Feb. 12 in Paris with criminal conspiracy, organized money laundering and receiving stolen goods after being questioned by a financial investigating judge.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour.