The former governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh. (Credit: Archive photo Joseph Eid / AFP)
BEIRUT — The prosecutor general at the Beirut Court of Appeal, Judge Raja Hammoush, has initiated proceedings against former Banque du Liban (BDL, Central Bank) governor, Riad Salameh, and the former CEO of Bank Audi, Samir Hanna, in a case involving financial and monetary offenses, the National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday. He has referred the case to Beirut’s first investigative judge, Roula Osman.
Hammoush accuses the two men of creating shell companies, embezzling BDL funds and using them to fraudulently acquire shares and bonds from commercial banks. They are also being prosecuted for illicit enrichment, money laundering and corruption. The complaint filed by current BDL Governor Karim Souhaid against Salameh and the former Bank Audi CEO concerns central bank investments in companies guaranteed by Bank Audi shares, which allegedly resulted in significant losses after the entities turned out to be fictitious or in financial difficulty.
The prosecutor general has requested an arrest warrant for Salameh, who had already been taken into custody on the order of the prosecutor general at the Court of Cassation, Ahmad Rami al-Hajj.
Salameh is already being prosecuted in Lebanon for alleged embezzlement of BDL funds and has been the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the French judiciary since 2023. He had been imprisoned in Lebanon for a year before being released on bail. The BDL governor from 1993 to July 2023 denies the charges against him. He was arrested on July 31 at Bhannès Hospital, where he had gone after the prosecutor’s office at the Court of Cassation, unable to confirm the medical reasons given to justify his absence from a hearing, issued a search warrant for him the previous day.
Initially detained at Roumieh prison on the order of prosecutor general Hajj, the former BDL governor was transferred last Monday to Dahr al-Bashek government hospital. On Tuesday, his family reiterated their request to transfer him to Bhannès hospital for health reasons, claiming that he was "chained and subjected to acts of humiliation" at his current place of detention and that "his life is in danger." A high-ranking judicial source, contacted Tuesday by L’Orient-Le Jour, denied these accusations. The prosecutor's office at the Court of Cassation responded to the allegations of mistreatment in a statement issued Wednesday.
