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Lebanese Judge Charges Salameh with Illicit Enrichment

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. Reuters
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. Reuters
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Lebanese Judge Charges Salameh with Illicit Enrichment

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. Reuters
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. Reuters

A Lebanese judge charged central bank governor Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment on Monday, the judge told Reuters, days after she ordered his brother Raja arrested in the same case.

Judge Ghada Aoun said Riad Salameh, governor for nearly three decades, had not attended a hearing scheduled for Monday, and she had charged him in absentia.

She said the charge related to the purchase and rental of Paris apartments, including some to the central bank, Aoun told Reuters.

But Salameh said that he had ordered an audit which showed that no public funds were a source of his wealth, denying the charge.

"This audit report was submitted to the relevant authorities in Lebanon and abroad," Salameh said in response to a question sent by text message from Reuters.

On Friday, Raja Salameh's lawyer said allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering against his client were unfounded, calling the evidence "media speculation without any evidence".

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Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
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Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Italy's foreign minister says a moratorium on European Union sanctions on Syria could help encourage the country's transition after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition groups.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Syria on Friday and expressed Italy’s keen interest in helping Syria recover from civil war, rebuild its broken economy and help stabilize the region.

Tajani, who met with Syria’s new de facto leaders, including Ahmed al-Sharaa, said a stable Syria and Lebanon was of strategic and commercial importance to Europe.

He said the fall of Assad's government, as well as the Lebanon parliament's vote on Thursday to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as president, were signs of optimism for Middle East stability.

He said Italy wanted to play a leading role in Syria’s recovery and serve as a bridge between Damascus and the EU, particularly given Italy’s commercial and strategic interests in the Mediterranean.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Tajani later traveled to Lebanon and met with Aoun. Italy has long played a sizeable role in the UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon, UNIFIL.

On the eve of his visit, Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials from Britain, France and Germany as well as the EU foreign policy chief. He said that meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to begin the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

“The sanctions were against the Assad regime. If the situation has changed, we have to change our choices,” Tajani said.