A spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office in Paris stated yesterday that Marwan Khair El-Din, the Chairman of Lebanon's Bank of the Resources, is suspected of involvement in a criminal organization and money laundering. The spokesperson added that Khair El-Din was in France on March 24 when he was notified of the preliminary charges, but he was not detained; instead, he received an order not to leave the country, and his passport was confiscated.
With Khair El-Din subjected to an official investigation, this represents the latest step in a cross-border inquiry to determine whether the Governor of the Lebanese Central Bank, Riad Salameh, embezzled substantial amounts of public funds. Salameh denies the accusations and claims he is being made a scapegoat for the Lebanese financial crisis that erupted in 2019.
According to Reuters, Khair El-Din has not responded to phone calls or text messages. According to sources familiar with the French and Lebanese investigations, it is suspected that Khair El-Din allowed Salameh to carry out irregular financial transfers through Bank of the Resources.
Salameh's lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sour, declined to comment on the allegations regarding Khair El-Din’s collusion with the Central Bank governor. The Lebanese bank did not respond to a request for comment. French prosecutors have summoned Salameh to a hearing in Paris scheduled for May 16, according to his lawyer, although they have not officially announced their suspicion regarding him.
Sour stated late yesterday that it is still unclear whether his client will be able to attend the session due to travel restrictions related to his Lebanese investigations. He noted to Reuters that there might be grounds to challenge the session itself on procedural grounds.
The lawyer mentioned that French prosecutors summoned his client to officially announce him as a suspect; however, they came to Beirut in March and questioned him "merely as a witness." Sour believes that if the French prosecutors suspected Salameh of committing an offense, they wouldn't have heard his testimony as a witness, adding that their hearing created an "insurmountable gap."
**From $15 Million to $150 Million!**
In January, European prosecutors who visited Beirut questioned Khair El-Din about accounts at Bank of the Resources holding large sums of Salameh's funds, according to sources familiar with the questioning. Data from account statements reviewed by Reuters shows how Salameh's accounts at Bank of the Resources grew from $15 million in 1993 to over $150 million by 2019.
A Lebanese judicial source stated on Saturday that Lebanese public prosecutors suspect that accounts used for regular cash withdrawals were utilized to conceal money laundering activities. Salameh, through his lawyers, denied using his accounts at Bank of the Resources for money laundering, stating that the interest on deposits explains the increase in his savings.
