May 16 is just a few days away. In just a few days, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is scheduled to appear before the French judge Aude Buresi in Paris as part of the investigation into corruption and money laundering charges. Many questions about the great Lebanese theft could be answered that day. Whatever we should expect, the implications are already being felt in Beirut. Mikati has called for the question of the governorship to be settled by the government, and Nabih Berri was quoted as saying that “the imminent juncture is appointing a Central Bank Governor.”
They are preparing to turn a dangerous page opened by the foreign investigators, after ignoring the charges of embezzlement made by “Case Authority” in the Ministry of Justice, as well as its request that the property of Riad Salameh, his brother Raja and his assistant al-Hoayek be seized and that he be arrested and referred to the Criminal Court.
Judge Bourisi surprised Salameh by summoning himself on March 16, as soon as he finished questioning him in Beirut. Over two days, Salameh was bombarded with about 200 questions about $330 million worth of financial transfers via the offshore company Forry Associates, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Bourisi’s aim is to establish how the transfers ended up in his accounts and identify the bankers in Europe who facilitated these financial crimes.
For his part, Salameh certainly never considered the possibility that these crimes would be exposed, as he showered the Lebanese with lectures about his integrity and the awards he has won!
Salameh’s backers, politicians and beneficiaries, have been holding their breath since being informed of the request that secrecy be lifted from the accounts with links to the charges against the Central Bank Governor, as the information about transfers could expose many of them! Indeed, it has been reported that the investigators will probably surprise Salameh with the trove of information at their disposal thanks to Marwan Kheireddine, the head of Al-Mawarid Bank, and others...
There are rumors of a Forry 2 that played a role in dubious financial operations totaling around $8 billion through Optimum Invest. Thus, Salameh’s defenders have already begun anticipating the best case scenario, providing pretexts to justify Salameh not showing up for questioning. They are trying to find ways to bide their time, but they know that no matter what happens, the charges are not going anywhere!
In fact, several sources have stressed that we should know what to expect. If Salameh chooses not to show up, the investigation will be concluded, and an arrest warrant will be issued against him in absentia and sent to Interpol. If he does go, he will be charged, an arrest warrant will be filed against him, and he will go to trial. His legal team is thus seeking a settlement. As with Kheireddine, however, it would come at a steep price. The lawyers are looking to buy time and gauge the price that must be paid to mitigate his punishment after the charges are substantiated!
Meanwhile, nothing worries the people, who have been left to deal with the arrogant mafia alone, more than the fact that the Lebanese judiciary is hesitant to play the role demanded of it. It is neither acceptable nor comprehensible for the judiciary to refrain from addressing these charges seriously and responsibly, bearing in mind that the European investigators are building their case on that opened by the Lebanese Judge Jean Tannous over a year ago. The latter’s investigation was impeded by political interference, with the prime minister threatening to resign if the case was not closed, and the prime minister got what he wanted!
There are certainly many dimensions to the prosecution and trial of Salameh on charges of corruption and money laundering. The case will have implications for the alliance of politicians, bankers, and militias. The entire alliance is now trial. Indeed, for decades, Salameh was the monetary wing of the ruling clique that divided state revenues among its members and seized the deposits of citizens, who went from being affluent to being poor in the blink of an eye!
Throughout this process, Salameh engineered the policies that allowed this to happen. His role turned him into a model of success and a pivotal figure who gave lectures on integrity, and it rendered him a candidate for the presidency of the republic whenever a term ended!
Dr. Ghassan Ayyash (former Deputy Central Bank Governor) claims that those who brought Riad Salameh to the governorship 30 years ago tasked him with pegging the exchange rate and paying the balance of payments deficit, leaving the rest to him!
They put the Code of Money and Credit to one side from the beginning. Instead of the treasury taking care of the balance of payments deficit, subsidy policies, and pegging the exchange rate, these tasks were entrusted to the Central Bank Governor who had come from Merrill Lynch. He brought his bearer of secrets, Raja Bouaasli, with him. Raja has told the investigators everything he knows. The number of prominent positions he occupied is remarkable. He chairs the Higher Banking Commission, the Special Investigation Commission, and the BDL Central Council, as well as having the authority to regulate banks and presiding over the oversight committee.
Salameh was never held accountable. He rarely complied with Parliament’s requests to discuss monetary and financial matters, subsidies, debt, and interest rates, all of which are pivotal issues he decides that bear heavily on the standard of living of the Lebanese, Lebanon’s finances, and the economy. Salameh was behind the most prominent fraudulent claim to the Lebanese: The lira is fine. It was not fine for a single day of Salameh’s tenure!
His questioning in Paris will almost certainly turn the page on 30 years of Riad Salameh controlling monetary policy in Lebanon. A rare consensus among the entire political class has emerged on this matter. Will his crimes reawaken the judiciary and push it to finish what the European investigations have started, demonstrating where the looted funds have gone and who is responsible? The Lebanese are right to demand a Governor who is not part of the clique, so he can expose the plunder facilitated by the Central Bank... Could such a dream come true?!
