The noose is tightening: accused of corruption and embezzlement, the man is presented as one of the main responsible for the crisis which is ravaging his country.
This is a major step in the descent into hell of the so-called “Lebanese Madoff”.
Tuesday, May 16, Riad Salamé refused to appear for questioning at the Paris court. On four occasions, four days in a row, last week, Lebanese police officers had nevertheless gone to the Bank’s headquarters in Beirut to deliver his summons: without success. The French investigating judge, therefore, chose the strong way by issuing an arrest warrant.
>> Lebanon’s most powerful man, Central Bank Governor Riad Salamé summoned to court
Riad Salamé, 72 years old today, is suspected of having enriched himself illicitly, of having created a colossal real estate and banking heritage of more than two billion dollars, distributed in Europe and in tax havens.
Surveys in six countries
In Paris, in July 2021, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened a judicial investigation for organized money laundering. At least six other European countries also have Riad Salamé in their sights. Switzerland, for example, suspects him of having embezzled more than 330 million dollars in commissions on the sale of financial securities of the Lebanese Central Bank. Last year, France, Germany and Luxembourg froze some of his assets.
And yet, he is still in office. Riad Salamé denies all the accusations against him; he contests step by step every judicial decision. He has been at the head of the Lebanese Central Bank for thirty years, he was placed there in 1993 by Rafik Hariri. For a long time, he was presented as a financial genius, a visionary. Above all, he handed out loans and credits and let the state go into debt up to his neck to finance the reconstruction of the country, which was emerging from 15 years of civil war… He has almost become untouchable.
His popularity plummeted
But when the wheel begins to turn after 2010, when the Lebanese economy unscrews, it appears as one of the central pieces of this rout. The absolute example of the indestructible and corrupt official who crystallizes the anger of the Lebanese. From 2019, the year of the uprising, its popularity collapsed at about the same rate as the Lebanese pound – which lost more than 80% of its value. His brother, his ex-partner, his son and his collaborator are also implicated. But Riad Salamé remains straight in his boots: he has already announced that he was going to challenge his arrest warrant.
“Salamé’s wide evasion is commensurate with his cynicism and his refusal to assume any responsibility (…). One day or another, he will be arrested”, says William Bourdon, the lawyer for the Sherpa association and the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon (CPVCL), civil parties. The lawyer also puts cause “a systematic obstruction of certain Lebanese magistrates, in total contradiction with their obligations vis-à-vis France”.
In Lebanon, where justice and political interests are often closely linked, the follow-up that will be given to the judicial questioning of Riad Salamé will also make it possible to judge the solidity of the judicial system in Beirut.