The French judiciary formally charged the former Lebanese minister and chairman of the board of directors of the private “Al-Mawarid Bank”, Marawan Khaireddine , in Paris at the end of March, in the French judicial investigation into the assets of the Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh in Europe, according to what a source familiar with the file told Agence France-Presse. Press Friday.

The source explained that the charges against Khair El-Din are “forming a criminal gang” with the aim of embezzling public funds by a public official at the expense of the Lebanese state, breach of trust and corruption of a public official.

Khair El-Din, 55, was interviewed by European investigators in Lebanon in January.

Khair El-Din is also being prosecuted on charges of money laundering within the framework of an "organized gang", and the French judiciary has placed him under judicial control.
It is suspected that Salama, 72, used Al-Mawarid Bank to transfer funds without being monitored, in exchange for services from this bank.

Khairuddin's lawyer did not immediately respond to inquiries from AFP.

The wealth of Salameh, one of the longest-serving central bank rulers in the world, has been the focus of investigations for two years in Lebanon and abroad, as he is pursued by several suspicions, including embezzlement, laundering and transferring funds to accounts abroad.

So far, Salama has not been formally charged in the framework of the French investigation. However, the governor of the “Banque du Liban” was summoned to an interrogation session on May 16 in France, according to a Lebanese judicial source and the source familiar with the file.

The Lebanese source stated that the Lebanese authorities cannot force Salama to go to France, as a travel ban has been issued against him. This decision was issued by Lebanese Judge Ghada Aoun, who can lift the travel ban on Salama to allow him to appear before the French judiciary.

Salameh's lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, said that he is "studying the feasibility of fulfilling this request" because, in his opinion, the procedures against his client are irregular.
In mid-March, European investigators, including French investigative judge Aud Bourizi, heard Salama in Beirut.

Salama continually denies the accusations against him, considering that his prosecution comes in the context of a political and media operation to “tarnish” his image, and confirms that he accumulated his wealth from his previous work for two decades in the international financial institution “Merrill Lynch” and from investments in several fields.

Lawyer William Bourdon told AFP that the accusation against Khair El-Din, the second in the framework of the French investigation launched in July 2021, "constitutes an important milestone."

The lawyer for both the “Sherpa” association and the “Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon” association, which are two civil parties in this case, stressed that “money laundering operations on the part of Salameh and those close to him would not have occurred without the participation of bankers in France and elsewhere.”

And in June 2022, a close associate of Salama, Anna K., a 46-year-old Ukrainian, was formally charged with suspicion of her involvement in "complex financial arrangements that allow concealing the source of funds embezzled by Riad Salameh."

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg froze 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 330 million dollars and 5 million euros, respectively.” between 2002 and 2021.

Salama's defense agents are demanding the recovery of assets worth tens of millions of euros owned by their client and seized in France, including apartments in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and on the Champs-Elysées, and others in the United Kingdom and Belgium, as well as bank accounts and others.