European sources revealed that the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, is a “suspect,” stressing that investigations will expand to prove these facts with documents. The sources working within the European judicial delegation, which is currently visiting Beirut, did not rule out the trial of the Governor of the Banque du Liban this year in Europe, expressing his belief that opening his file would reveal a lot.
It is noteworthy that the European judicial delegation began its mission since the beginning of the week to listen to the testimonies of Lebanese bankers in accordance with the lawsuits filed in Germany, France and Luxembourg against Lebanese banking figures for the crime of money laundering and illegal enrichment.
According to the investigations of the past few days, the investigation is currently centering around the “Forry Associates Ltd” company, which was suspected of the involvement of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, and his brother Raja, in embezzlement, money laundering, and illegal enrichment.
The sources pointed to Riad Salameh’s testimony before the Financial Advocate General, Jean Tannous, on August 5, 2021, when he admitted at the time that in 2002 he signed a contract with the company to provide financial services related to managing Lebanese debt securities in foreign currencies in return for a commission.
According to the same sources, those who appeared in the past few days before the European investigators and who will appear until the conclusion of this mission are “witnesses”, and the purpose of listening to them is to know the sources of the funds that were transferred abroad.
In this context, the investigators are seeking to know the sources of funds for Riad Salameh and his brother Raja, which were transferred to Germany, France and Luxembourg, most of which are in the accounts of the (Fawry) company owned by Raja, estimated at more than $500 million between cash and real estate.
For its part, informed French sources revealed that the Governor of the Banque du Liban sent a file to the French investigative judge, Aud Bourcy, denying the documents the suspicion of embezzlement, and that the increase in his personal wealth resulted from his work in the Merrill Lynch Securities Company before he took office.
However, the French judge said: No commissions were paid to cover any real activity carried out by Fawry, and the only beneficiary was Riad Salameh and those close to him, and that there are suspicions of money laundering. According to European sources, there is dissatisfaction among the political class with the mission of the European investigators, after it became clear that five Lebanese banks through which suspicious transfers were made to Riyad and Raja Salameh and their company, Fawry.
