The Discriminatory Public Prosecution in Lebanon decided to interrogate the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in several cases, including embezzlement of public funds and tax evasion, an informed judicial source told AFP on Monday.
More than two months ago, the Lebanese judiciary opened a local investigation into Salameh’s wealth and its source after he was targeted by an investigation in Switzerland on suspicion of involvement in embezzlement cases, before he was also targeted with an investigation in France and a complaint in Britain. The judicial source said that the Discriminatory Public Prosecution decided to interrogate Salameh at the beginning of next August, as he “will be subject to investigation before the Public Prosecutor, Jean Tannous, for the crimes of embezzlement of public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment, money laundering and tax evasion.”
The source explained that the local investigation “intersects” with the investigations in the three Western countries, and the decision to question Salameh, “and the prosecution against him comes based on internal and external data and information that called for these measures.” The Swiss judiciary is pursuing from the Virgin Islands to Geneva, via Panama, the path of money movements suspected that the governor of the Banque du Liban carried out in cooperation with his brother, Raja.
Last January, the Federal Public Prosecution Office in Switzerland requested legal assistance from the Lebanese authorities, which in February sent its “preliminary result” after hearing the statements of Salameh and his brother and his assistance. The request, which was sent by the Swiss public prosecutor to Lebanon and a copy of which was seen by AFP, states that it appears that Salameh, with the help of his brother, has carried out, since 2002, “the embezzlement of funds estimated at more than 300 million US dollars, to the detriment of the Banque du Liban.”
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