Money laundering, fraud, concealment, illicit enrichment. Here is an anthology of the suspicions that weigh on this man often presented as the most powerful in the country. It must be said that Riad Salamé has been running the Central Bank of Lebanon, the BDL as everyone calls it there, for 30 years! “He holds everyonesays a European diplomat, he is the real president, his departure is the priority to clean up the system. The words are straightforward because the suspicions are strong. Several investigations are open, in Lebanon and in Europe. And the Lebanese justice has decided to shift its own procedure to let the European judges work as a priority: French, German, Luxembourgish. All are in Beirut to question Salamé on Wednesday March 15 in the morning.
Riad Salamé and his brother Raja, also summoned, are suspected of illicit fund movements to tax havens, in Switzerland, in the Virgin Islands: more than 330 million euros in total which led to large real estate investments in Paris, in Monaco, Brussels, Luxembourg, Munich, Hamburg. European investigators already came to Lebanon two months ago. They had then questioned several private bankers, but this time, they therefore summoned the main suspect.
A suspicious colossal fortune and a scapegoat posture
Faced with these accusations, Riad Salamé denies it altogether. He affirms that these banking movements do not concern public funds but his private fortune, a fortune originally estimated at more than 20 million euros and which he claims to have made fruitful. Riad Salamé also considers itself the victim of a cabal and of settling of political scores; he is very close to the Hariri family, and on very bad terms with the Aoun clan. It is certain in any case that Riad Salamé knows everything about business, not to say the shenanigans of the Lebanese political class. And his eviction could also make it possible to dismiss a man who knows too many things: a sort of scapegoat, a tree that hides the forest.
330% inflation
These fundamental movements and this fortune of the Lebanese central banker are all the more shocking as the country is at the bottom of the abyss. It goes even further: Lebanon continues to dig its own abyss and sink. For example the level of the currency, the Lebanese pound is sinking more and more. On the black market, it now takes 100,000 pounds to the dollar. Six months ago it was 35,000. And until recently, the official price was 1500. 60 times less! Unemployment has reached 30%, poverty has doubled in two years, the inflation rate is 330%. It is the highest in the world! Small savers filed a complaint with the courts to recover their savings blocked in the banks. But the banks refuse. They have even been on an indefinite strike since March 14 to oppose court decisions seeking to seize the funds of large savers and directors of banking establishments. If we add that Lebanon is still in a political stalemate and has not had a president for five months, we have an idea of the catastrophe. And we understand why the fortune of Riad Salamé appears indecent in the eyes of a good part of the seven million Lebanese.