BEIRUT —
A Lebanese judge Monday charged central bank chief
Riad Salameh with “illicit
enrichment” and money laundering after he failed to attend a court hearing for
the fifth time, a judicial source told AFP.
اضافة اعلان
Judge
Ghada Aoun
also charged Salameh’s brother Raja with “facilitating money laundering” after
he was arrested last week over financial misconduct, the source said.
The same charge
was filed against Ukrainian national Anna Kosakova, who jointly owns a company
with Raja Salameh.
Aoun is
investigating whether a number of residential apartments in Paris belong to
Riad Salemeh, according to the judicial source.
His brother had
previously claimed the flats belong to the central bank, the source added.
Earlier this
year, Aoun slapped the central bank chief with a travel ban for alleged
financial misconduct and ordered security forces to forcibly bring him in for
questioning.
The judge is
overseeing several legal cases against the central bank governor, who has
repeatedly failed to show up at hearings.
Salameh has
consistently denied any wrongdoing.
He has accused
Aoun of “personal enmity”, saying the prosecution is politically motivated and
part of an “organized campaign to tarnish” his reputation.
Raja Salameh was
arrested last Thursday on charges of “money laundering, embezzlement, illicit
enrichment, and smuggling large amounts of money” out of the country.
Lebanon opened a
local probe into Riad Salameh’s wealth last year, after the Swiss attorney
general’s office requested assistance in an investigation into more than $300
million which he allegedly embezzled out of the central bank with the help of
his brother.
Salameh also
faces lawsuits in other
European countries, including France and Britain.
Lebanon’s top
banker for three decades is blamed for policies that contributed to the
country’s financial collapse, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
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