The Media Line: Prosecutors Confirm Issuing Arrest Warrant for Lebanon’s Former Central Bank Chief

Prosecutors Confirm Issuing Arrest Warrant for Lebanon’s Former Central Bank Chief

The Media Line Staff/The Media Line

German prosecutors have confirmed that they have issued an arrest warrant for the former head of Lebanon’s central bank and that they are conducting an investigation into alleged money laundering by him and others to the value of some 150 million euros ($162 million).

The Munich public prosecutor’s office said that it was investigating Riad Salameh, 72, Lebanon’s central bank chief from 1993 to 2023, as well as his brother Raja and other suspects, on charges including forgery, money laundering, and embezzlement.

Salameh is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the central bank and laundering the money abroad, to the detriment of the Lebanese state.

The Munich prosecutor’s office said that part of the money was routed to Europe via a letterbox company in the British Virgin Islands and invested in real estate, including in Germany.

The office said that three commercial properties in Munich and Hamburg, with a total value of around 28 million euros ($30 million), had been confiscated in an operation together with partner authorities in France and Luxembourg.

The authorities also seized shares worth around 7 million euros ($7.5 million) in a property company in Dusseldorf.

European prosecutors have visited Lebanon several times to question the Salameh brothers. However, Lebanon does not extradite its nationals.

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