The French national financial prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into the wealth of the Lebanese central bank governor, Riad Salameh, in Europe, according to a judicial source who confirmed information provided by a source close to the case to Agence France-Presse on Sunday. This investigation was opened in late May regarding “criminal conspiracy” and “money laundering in an organized gang.” Two complaints targeting Salameh and his substantial wealth in Europe were filed in April with the Paris anti-corruption prosecutor's office, according to AFP. The investigations are expected to clarify the source of Salameh's considerable wealth.
Salameh, along with his brother Raja and his close aide Marian Hayek, is also facing an investigation in Switzerland. According to the daily newspaper "Le Temps," the investigations concern financial transfers exceeding $300 million conducted by the two men between Lebanon and Switzerland. It is noteworthy that the Swiss public prosecutor's office announced in January that it had sought legal assistance from Lebanon concerning an investigation of “serious money laundering” and potential embezzlement linked to the Central Bank of Lebanon.
### Central Governor’s Transfers
A Lebanese government official clarified in January that the Swiss authorities are investigating financial transfers made by the central bank governor and are looking into activities conducted by his brother and assistant. In response, Riad Salameh described any allegations regarding such transfers as fabricated. In a statement to the public prosecutor in January, he affirmed that he had answered questions sent on behalf of the Swiss authorities and added, "I assured him that no transfers occurred from the accounts of the Central Bank of Lebanon or from its budgets." Salameh emphasizes that all his funds are declared and legal, asserting that he accumulated his wealth through inheritance and his professional career in the financial sector. He owns a luxurious villa on the coasts of Antibes in southeastern France.
### Unprecedented Crisis
These developments come as the banking sector is deep in the heart of Lebanon's unprecedented financial crisis, which erupted in late 2019, with banks largely restricting customers' access to their dollar deposits and halting transfers abroad since then amid increasing dollar shortages. The financial collapse has led to a significant depreciation of the local currency and compelled the country to declare its inability to repay sovereign debts, pushing at least half of the population into poverty. In its latest report, Standard & Poor's Global stated at the end of last month that depositors in Lebanese banks are likely to be adversely affected as banks absorb the costs of restructuring the country’s debts.
Given their substantial holdings of government debt, Lebanese banks find themselves at the center of a financial crisis that has continued for over a year since the government defaulted on its hard currency obligations in March 2020. Since the outbreak of unrest in late 2019, banks have frozen most dollar deposits and prohibited the transfer of liquid funds abroad.
