Beirut - (AFP) - The Appellate Public Prosecutor in Beirut on Thursday charged the Governor of the Banque du Liban , Riad Salameh, with several crimes, including embezzlement and money laundering, in the first local allegation against him on the sidelines of investigations conducted by several European countries about his wealth, a judicial official told AFP. .

In April 2022, the Lebanese judiciary opened a local investigation into Salameh’s wealth and its source, after he was targeted by an investigation in Switzerland, and later in other European countries, on suspicion of his and his brother Raja Salameh’s involvement in cases of embezzlement of more than $300 million.

The judicial official stated that Judge Raja Hamoush "charged both Salama, his brother, his assistant Marianne Al-Hawik, and everyone whom the investigation showed, with crimes of embezzlement of public funds, forgery, use of counterfeits, illegal enrichment, money laundering, and violation of the tax law."

The Public Defender of Appeal requested interrogation and the issuance of the necessary judicial warrants against them.

This is the first allegation in Lebanon that affects Salameh in the local investigation that is taking place against the background of the European investigations, but it is not the first local allegation against him in other cases related to illegal enrichment and smuggling of funds abroad, and a judge issued a travel ban against him.

The allegation against Salameh comes more than a month after European investigators in Beirut heard witnesses, including bank managers and employees of the Banque du Liban, in the context of investigations related to the wealth of the central bank governor.

The European investigations focus on the relationship between the Banque du Liban and the “Fore Associates” company, which is registered in the Virgin Islands and has an office in Beirut, and its economic beneficiary is Raja Salameh. It is believed that this company played the role of intermediary for the purchase of treasury bonds and Eurobonds from the Central Bank by receiving a subscription commission, which was transferred to Salama's accounts abroad.

On March 28, 2022, the European Judicial Cooperation Unit "Eurojust" announced that France, Germany and Luxembourg had frozen 120 million euros of Lebanese assets following an investigation targeting Salameh and four of his close associates, including his brother, on charges of money laundering and "embezzlement of public funds in Lebanon worth more than From 330 million dollars and 5 million euros, respectively, between 2002 and 2021.

Since July 2021, the French financial judiciary has been investigating Salama's fortune, and in early December, a Ukrainian woman close to him was charged with charges, including money laundering and tax fraud.

Salama has always denied the accusations against him, considering that his prosecution comes in the context of an operation to "tarnish" his image.

Despite the complaints, summons, investigations, and travel ban issued against him in Lebanon, Salameh remains in the position he has held since 1993, making him one of the longest-serving central bank governors in the world. His term is supposed to end in May 2023.