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Lebanon has formally charged its longtime former central bank governor, Riad Salame, with embezzling $44 million in public funds, according to Independent Arabia, which said it obtained the indictment.
This marks the first time the embattled financial figure has been indicted in his home country, even as he faces multiple international investigations.
Judge Bilal Halawi of the Beirut Court of Cassation referred Salame to trial on charges including embezzlement, forgery, and illicit enrichment. The decision also implicates two of Salame’s legal advisors, Michel “Micky” Tueni and Marwan Issa Al-Khoury, in the same alleged crimes. All three have been referred to the Beirut Criminal Court, and Salame remains in custody after his fourth request for release was denied.
The charges stem from Salame’s alleged role in a complex financial scheme involving the brokerage firm Optimum Invest, which prosecutors say was used to manipulate billions in treasury bond transactions to mask massive losses at Lebanon’s central bank. The transactions reportedly amounted to “round-tripping,” a practice used to artificially inflate income flows.
Salame, who served as governor of Banque du Liban for three decades until July 2023, has long denied wrongdoing. But he remains under scrutiny across Europe, with ongoing criminal probes in France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. Authorities in those countries allege Salame and his network laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through offshore accounts and luxury real estate.
Swiss prosecutors first opened a criminal inquiry in 2021, and since then, evidence has mounted linking Salame to a broader web of financial misconduct. In 2023, European investigators traveled to Beirut as part of joint efforts to build cases abroad.
“Salame will not be tried in Beirut; this is almost a settled matter,” a source close to the European investigations told OCCRP partner Daraj last year. “It may be a trial in absentia if he refuses to comply, but he will not be able to avoid being tried in Europe.”
In a statement released after the indictment, Salame’s media office described the charges as “hastily prepared” and “legally flawed,” dismissing the process as a politically motivated attempt to scapegoat the former governor for Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis.
The indictment comes at a time of mounting frustration among Lebanese citizens and the international community over the country’s slow-moving judicial efforts to hold financial leaders accountable for years of alleged corruption and mismanagement.
Lebanon’s new central bank chief, Karim Souaid, who took office last month, has vowed to implement reforms and crack down on illicit financial flows. “We will eliminate the illicit economy by combating money laundering and terrorist financing,” he said in his inaugural address.
The charges against Salame are a significant milestone in Lebanon’s stalled accountability efforts—but they also underscore the wider international pressure to bring to justice those linked to the country’s devastating financial collapse.
