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Lebanon: Brother of Central Bank Chief Kept in Custody

A view shows the Central Bank building, in Beirut, Lebanon. Reuters
A view shows the Central Bank building, in Beirut, Lebanon. Reuters
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Lebanon: Brother of Central Bank Chief Kept in Custody

A view shows the Central Bank building, in Beirut, Lebanon. Reuters
A view shows the Central Bank building, in Beirut, Lebanon. Reuters

A Lebanese judge decided Thursday to keep the brother of the country’s embattled central bank governor in custody, a week after he was first arrested on corruption allegations, state media reported.

The brothers — Governor Riad Salameh and Raja Salameh — have been charged with illegal enrichment and money laundering over the past few years, during Lebanon’s economic meltdown. Their assets have been frozen under an order from a judge.

A second judge, Nicola Mansour at Mount Lebanon district court, reviewed the case of Raja Salameh on Thursday, a week after his initial arrest and issued a second warrant for him, essentially keeping him in custody, The Associated Press reported.

Riad Salameh, who has not been arrested, has steered Lebanese finances since 1993, through post-war recovery and bouts of unrest. He was once praised as guardian of Lebanon’s financial stability but has drawn increasing scrutiny since the meltdown started in 2019.

Judge Mansour also summoned Riad Salameh for questioning next Thursday, according to National News Agency. The governor did not show up for previous questioning sessions.

When contacted by Reuters, he denied any wrongdoing, saying he had ordered an audit which showed public funds were not a source of his wealth.

Judge Ghada Aoun, also an investigative judge at Mount Lebanon district court who referred the case to Mansour, said that the Salameh brothers and Ukrainian citizen Anna Kosakova had formed three illusive companies in France to buy property there.

Aoun said last week that Riad Salameh had used his brother to buy real estate in France worth nearly $12 million. The lawsuit against the Salameh brothers was initiated by a group of lawyers.

In January, Aoun imposed a travel ban and froze some of the assets of the 71-year-old governor. He is also being investigated in several European nations, including Switzerland and France, for potential money laundering and embezzlement.

Critics of Judge Aoun accuse her of acting in line with the political agenda of President Michel Aoun, who appointed her as a prosecutor and whose Free Patriotic Movement wants Salameh removed from his post. Judge Aoun says she is applying the law.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.