Documents submitted to a French court reveal that French prosecutors have informed Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh of their intention to bring preliminary charges against him for forgery and money laundering, partly based on allegations of falsifying bank statements to conceal his wealth. The document, reviewed by "Reuters," includes a series of bank statements that one of Salameh's lawyers claims demonstrate how the central bank governor's savings grew from $15 million in 1993 to over $150 million by 2019 due to "capitalizing on interest."
However, according to the documents submitted to the French court, French investigators concluded that the bank statements were forged. The French prosecutors stated in the court documents that Salameh "used forged records for bank accounts at Bank of Resources... provided by the Chairman of the Board of Bank of Resources Lebanon, Marwan Kheireddine, to justify the source of his assets or income through deception." The documents also indicated that after interrogating Salameh in Beirut, French prosecutors wrote, "Riad Salameh is unable to justify the various loans and investments that enabled him to increase his wealth by over 250 million euros (at a minimum) during this period."
