Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh at the Beit al-Wasat, in January 2021. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra/Archive photo)
The judicial offensive launched by the central bank's governor, Karim Souhaid, against officials responsible for transactions carried out during the tenure of his predecessor, Riad Salameh, continues to reverberate. After targeting the former governor and former bankers, Banque du Liban (BDL, the central bank) is now focusing on another transaction dating back to 2017, with implications that reach as far as the Hariri family.On July 3, the BDL announced that it had filed two new criminal complaints against a former central bank executive and several former bank directors, as well as a businessman. While the statement did not identify those involved or provide details of the transactions under investigation, cross-checks by several media outlets, including L’Orient-Le Jour, quickly identified one of the two cases: the acquisition by...
The judicial offensive launched by the central bank's governor, Karim Souhaid, against officials responsible for transactions carried out during the tenure of his predecessor, Riad Salameh, continues to reverberate. After targeting the former governor and former bankers, Banque du Liban (BDL, the central bank) is now focusing on another transaction dating back to 2017, with implications that reach as far as the Hariri family.On July 3, the BDL announced that it had filed two new criminal complaints against a former central bank executive and several former bank directors, as well as a businessman. While the statement did not identify those involved or provide details of the transactions under investigation, cross-checks by several media outlets, including L’Orient-Le Jour, quickly identified one of the two cases: the acquisition...
