BEIRUT, Jan 11 (Reuters) – European investigators will arrive in Lebanon on Jan. 16 as a part of a cross-border probe into alleged state fraud, Lebanon’s caretaker justice minister mentioned on Wednesday.
French, German and Luxembourg judicial officers will search to “interrogate folks” in relation to suspected monetary crimes, Henry Khoury instructed reporters.
Judicial sources had earlier instructed Reuters that French, German and Luxembourg investigators would journey to Lebanon to probe the case of Riad Salameh, who has served as Lebanon’s central financial institution governor for the final three a long time.
They believe Salameh and his brother Raja might have illegally taken greater than $300 million from the Lebanese central financial institution between 2002 and 2015 and laundered a few of it in Switzerland, in accordance with Swiss courtroom paperwork seen by Reuters.
Salameh, 72, has denied any wrongdoing. He says the probes are a part of a coordinated marketing campaign to make him a scapegoat for Lebanon’s 2019 monetary collapse. His brother has additionally denied any wrongdoing.
In Germany, prosecutors have mentioned they had been investigating the likelihood that a number of the funds recognized by Swiss authorities had been used to accumulate actual property, notably in Munich.
French prosecutors are attempting to find out whether or not the Salameh brothers used a few of these funds to accumulate actual property in France, together with a part of a constructing on the Champs Elysees, in accordance with folks aware of the matter.
Luxembourg’s judiciary in November 2021 confirmed it had opened a prison case into Salameh, however declined to remark additional.
The European investigators will search to query central bankers, Lebanese monetary officers and the heads of a number of outstanding industrial banks as witnesses, a senior judicial supply instructed Reuters.
Just one particular person, a non-public dealer, could be questioned as a suspect within the case and Salameh would possible not be interrogated within the first spherical, the supply added.
The supply mentioned the investigators had requested checking account info from the Lebanese judiciary. It was not instantly clear whether or not they could be granted entry to the info.
The interrogations and request for knowledge had been all carried out through the Lebanese judiciary, in accordance with Khoury.
The European Observatory for Integrity in Lebanon mentioned in a web based assertion on Wednesday that Lebanon’s judiciary had acquired requests to interrogate industrial auditors of Lebanon’s central financial institution.
It mentioned that amongst these visiting could be French investigative choose Aude Buresi, who final visited Lebanon in Could 2022 to advance probes into Salameh and his brother.
Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Modifying by Alexandra Hudson and Josie Kao
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