A protester holding a mask depicting the former Governor of the Central Bank Riad Salameh, during a sit-in in front of the central bank headquarters in Beirut, on Nov. 27, 2019. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
Nady Salameh, the son of the former governor of the Central Bank Riad Salameh, and Marwan Issa al-Khoury, one of the former financial official's lawyers, were indicted in December and January in Paris. This is in the ongoing investigation into suspicions of embezzling Lebanese public funds, AFP learned from a source close to the case on Friday.
Nady Salameh was charged on Jan. 9 with conspiracy to commit multiple offenses, including embezzlement of public funds by a public official to the detriment of the state of Lebanon, breach of trust or corruption, and for organized money laundering.
"I have been suffering for three years from the consequences of things I did not participate in, things involving my father and uncle," the brothers Riad and Raja Salameh, said the 38-year-old Franco-Lebanese-British man in a brief statement to the judges, which AFP has seen. He described himself as a "collateral victim."
Attorney Eric Moutet, defending him with Luc Brossollet, told AFP that his client was "calm" and "wanted to explain himself on facts that do not constitute even the slightest chargeable offense."
‘The whole story of a family clan’
On Dec. 18, Khoury, counsel and nephew of Riad Salameh, was also indicted for the same offenses after two days of questioning. Aged 52, this specialist in mergers and acquisitions and project financing claimed his "total distance" from the investigated facts and asserted his "independence" and "integrity." He emphasized feeling "humiliated" in Lebanon by the investigation led by a French investigating judge, which is reportedly "highly instrumentalized in Lebanon." His attorney has not yet responded to AFP.
Riad Salameh, who led the Central Bank from 1993 until July 2023, along with his brother Raja, are suspected of having amassed a substantial property and banking portfolio in Europe and the United States through a complex financial arrangement, massive embezzlement of Lebanese public funds, and the involvement of numerous implicated actors in this investigation. Riad Salameh is under an international arrest warrant, while Raja Salameh was indicted. They strongly contest the allegations.
"We can hope for an end to the investigation by the end of the year and a trial in 2026. The French justice system is writing the whole story of a family clan and its mafia-like advisers," stated William Bourdon, an attorney from the NGO Sherpa and the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon, when contacted by AFP.
