Riad Salamé is suspected of having accumulated a large amount of real estate and banking assets in Europe after a massive embezzlement of public funds. The banker has already appealed the decision and is not in danger of being extradited. Guardian of small and big secrets and of the financial agreements of the Lebanese political class.
Beirut () – In recent days we have witnessed a turning point in the French investigation into the assets of the president of the Bank of Lebanon (BDL), Riad Salamé. When he did not appear before the magistrates after the summons issued by the investigating judge Aude Buresi of the Paris Court of Appeals, in charge of the investigation into the manager’s assets in Europe, the court issued an international arrest warrant against him. .
At the head of the institution since 1993, named in 2011 one of the six best central bank presidents in the world by Global Finance magazine, he is suspected of having accumulated a large real estate and banking heritage in Europe over time. According to the indictment, he acted through a complex system of Chinese financial companies’ boxes and a massive embezzlement of Lebanese public funds. The indictment that formalized the investigation and launched the judicial process is from July 2021.
Unfazed, the former Merrill Lynch investment executive announced his intention to appeal the decision. His lawyer Pierre-Olivier, quoted by AFP, assured that the order suffered from a formal defect because it had been sent “less than ten days before the scheduled date for the interrogation.”
Custodian of small and big secrets and of the financial agreements of the Lebanese political class, and at the head of the BDL since 1993, Salamé, 72, is the cornerstone of the banking system that bankrupted the country of cedars. This failure caused the collapse of the Lebanese pound (which has lost 98% of its value against the dollar) and the banking system in general, and has deprived tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of institutions and resources of their funds and resources. savers.
Salamé is not the only one responsible for this collapse, but as the obligatory intermediary between the private banks and the Lebanese state, he could serve as a scapegoat for a pervasive system of corruption from which Lebanon cannot extricate itself. All this despite the intervention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that has tried to limit the damage.
His indictment and possible arrest are watched with great fear by a large part of the political class. In fact, this man is aware of all the secrets of the Lebanese Republic. His eventual downfall would open a fatal Pandora’s box for some, marking the end of an era feared by many, from Nabih Berry to Walid Joumblatt to Saad Hariri to Nagib Mikati, the current interim prime minister.
Why France?
Why was it the French court that indicted Salamé and not the Lebanese court? Because, they explain in political circles, it has protections that the Mount Lebanon prosecutor, Ghada Aoun, has tried in vain to evade.
Since the beginning of the year, European judges, including French judge Aude Buresi, have traveled to Lebanon three times to question Salamé and his relatives, and in particular his younger brother, Raja Salamé. By March 2022 France, Germany and Luxembourg had frozen €120 million of Lebanese assets suspected of belonging to Salamé.
The concrete consequences of the arrest warrant are still difficult to calculate. It could limit Salamé’s trips abroad, although he should not fear a possible extradition. Beirut, in effect, does not extradite its citizens, as everyone knows from the case of Carlos Ghosn, the former CEO of Renault-Nissan. He was accused of embezzlement and prevarication and took refuge in Lebanon after escaping from Japan.
Political reactions to the notification of the arrest warrant were very mixed. For the Free Patriotic Movement (CLP), founded by former head of state Michel Aoun, “the international arrest warrant issued against Riad Salamé is an important turning point in the fight against corruption.” The Kataëb party and the deputy Mark Daou, a member of the protest movement, have asked that he be removed from the post of president, to “safeguard the prestige of the institutions” before national public opinion and the international community. However, this measure, observes the president of the International Movement of Lebanese Entrepreneurs, Fouad Zmokhol, could push “foreign credit institutions that work with Lebanon to disassociate themselves” from the current agreements.