Former Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh has been charged with multiple financial crimes, including embezzlement and illicit enrichment, according to reports.
The charges were filed on Tuesday by public financial prosecutor Ali Ibrahim, as reported by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Salameh, who served as the central bank governor for 30 years until his recent departure, is accused of “embezzlement, theft of public funds, forgery, and illicit enrichment.”
According to The Associated Press, the case stems from an investigation into alleged embezzlement of at least $42 million from the Banque Du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank. The scheme, known as the Optimum case, reportedly involved a fraud operation that allowed massive losses at the bank to be concealed between 2015 and 2018.
Salameh, 73, was arrested on Tuesday and ordered to four days of preventive detention following a judicial hearing in Beirut. He will remain in custody until at least next week when a hearing is expected to be scheduled, according to judicial sources who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The charges are separate from previous allegations involving Forry Associates, a company controlled by Salameh’s brother, Raja. In that case, the brothers were accused of diverting $330 million in public funds through commissions between 2002 and 2015. Both have denied any wrongdoing in all cases.
Optimum Invest, the Lebanese firm at the centre of the current investigation, stated that it is “fully assisting the judicial authorities in their investigation” and that its dealings with the central bank “were conducted in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The case has now been referred to investigating judge Bilal Halawi, who will set the date for the upcoming hearing. At this hearing, the judge will decide whether to keep Salameh in detention or release him pending trial.
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