A judicial source reported that "the brother of the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Raja Salameh, attended a session in Beirut today, Thursday, with European investigators probing whether the two brothers were involved in embezzling and laundering hundreds of millions of dollars from public funds over more than a decade." In this context, Raja told the investigators, during a session lasting nearly 5 hours, that "Fouri is solely owned by him." He added that "the amount of $155 million collected came from investment profits made over 10 years through accumulated interest and foreign exchange transactions," stating that "the commissions collected are not public funds."
According to court documents from France examined by "Reuters," French prosecutors claim that "the funds obtained were used to carry out several real estate purchases in Europe and the United Kingdom." The documents say that "the prosecutors suspect that Riad used forged banking documents in Raja's name to conceal the sources of illicit wealth."
European investigators interrogated the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon in Beirut over two days in March, asking about the bank’s relationship with Fouri, the governor's assets abroad, the source of his wealth, and the transfers he made to his partners and relatives. French prosecutors informed Riad that they intend to file charges of fraud and money laundering during a scheduled hearing in France on May 16. Finance Minister of the caretaker government, Youssef Khalil, is also set to be interrogated.
