“In the absence of a lawyer, a Lebanese prosecutor asked central bank governor Riad Salameh for documents relating to suspicions of embezzlement, money laundering, and tax evasion,” a senior judicial source stated.
Salameh has dismissed previous corruption allegations against him as a smear campaign. In response to a question from Reuters, Salameh said the deliberations were secret.
“Suspicion should not be confused with accusations. My case is still under investigation. I haven’t been charged either “Salameh told Reuters through text message.
The prosecutor, Judge Jean Tannous, has scheduled a new hearing for September 28, according to a judicial source.
Salameh is under investigation in Switzerland on charges related to embezzlement and probes are under way or being planned in several other European countries.
Following a Swiss legal request claiming that more than $300 million had been embezzled from the bank through a firm owned by Salameh’s brother, Lebanon’s public prosecutor opened an investigation into him in April.
Lebanon’s crippled banking system is at the heart of a financial crisis that erupted in late 2019. Banks have since blocked transfers abroad and cut access to deposits as dollars grew scarce.
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