Lebanese justice ministry accuses former central bank chief of financial crimes

Lebanese justice ministry accuses former central bank chief of financial crimes
Riad Salameh the governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, listens to a journalist’s question during a press conference, in Beirut, on Nov. 11, 2019. (AP/File)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Lebanese justice ministry accuses former central bank chief of financial crimes

Lebanese justice ministry accuses former central bank chief of financial crimes
  • The justice ministry’s move on Thursday aims to preserve the state’s right to reclaim any public funds which have been embezzled
  • Protesters rallied in front of the justice ministry on Thursday in support of Salameh’s arrest

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s justice ministry formally accused former central bank governor Riad Salameh of financial crimes on Thursday, the state news agency and judicial sources said, echoing charges brought against him by state prosecutors when he was arrested this week.
Salameh, 73, was arrested on Tuesday over alleged financial crimes including illicit enrichment through public funds. Reuters has been unable to reach Salameh or a lawyer for him since his arrest. He has previously denied accusations of wrongdoing.
The justice ministry’s move on Thursday aims to preserve the state’s right to reclaim any public funds which have been embezzled, a judicial source told Reuters.
Salameh’s three decades in charge of the central bank came to an end last year when he left office with his legacy tarnished by accusations of corruption at home and abroad and by the catastrophic collapse of Lebanon’s financial system in 2019.
Protesters rallied in front of the justice ministry on Thursday in support of Salameh’s arrest, calling for him to remain behind bars and burning his picture. The protest was called by Depositors’ Outcry, a group campaigning for the rights of depositors with savings frozen in Lebanese banks.
Financial prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Wednesday charged Salameh with embezzlement, theft of public funds, forgery, and illicit enrichment, according to the National News Agency and judicial sources.
The authorities have not published the charges against him.
Judicial sources have said he has been held on charges of accruing more than $110 million via financial crimes involving Optimum Invest, a Lebanese firm that offers income brokerage services.
Optimum Invest said on Wednesday it is fully “assisting the judicial authorities in their investigation and provided them with all the information and documents previously requested.”
It said its dealings with the central bank “were conducted in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The charges brought against Salameh this week are separate from previous charges of financial crimes linked to Forry Associates, a company controlled by his brother, Raja. The brothers — who deny any wrongdoing — were accused of using Forry to divert $330 million in public funds through commissions.
Two judicial sources told Reuters on Wednesday Salameh would remain in detention at least until a hearing is scheduled, probably next week.


Israel issues evacuation call for east Lebanon city of Baalbek

Israel issues evacuation call for east Lebanon city of Baalbek
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel issues evacuation call for east Lebanon city of Baalbek

Israel issues evacuation call for east Lebanon city of Baalbek
  • Israeli military spokesman: ‘The (Israeli army) will act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages’
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army urged residents of the east Lebanon city of Baalbek and surrounding villages to leave immediately Wednesday, warning it was preparing attacks on Hezbollah targets.
“The (Israeli army) will act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of the area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway.

Iran missile production not disrupted by Israeli strikes: state media

Iran missile production not disrupted by Israeli strikes: state media
Updated 6 min 19 sec ago
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Iran missile production not disrupted by Israeli strikes: state media

Iran missile production not disrupted by Israeli strikes: state media
  • Israel struck several military facilities in Iran on Saturday

DUBAI: Iran’s missile production has not been disrupted following Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic Republic on Oct. 26, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying on Wednesday by state media.
Israel struck several military facilities in Iran on Saturday, marking the latest exchange in the hostilities between the two longstanding adversaries in a conflict that has simmered for months.
Israel’s strikes were in retaliation for the October 1 attack by Iran, when Tehran fired about 200 missiles at Israel, though most were intercepted by the country’s aerial defense systems.


US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon

US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon
Updated 13 min 24 sec ago
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US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon

US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon
  • Lebanon conflict has escalated dramatically in past 5 weeks
  • New proposal calls for 60-day truce, sources say
  • Calls for full enforcement of Resolution 1701

BEIRUT: US mediators are working on a proposal to wind down hostilities between Israel’s military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, beginning with a 60-day ceasefire, two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Wednesday.
The sources — a person briefed on the talks and a senior diplomat working on Lebanon — said the two-month period would be used to finalize full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to keep southern Lebanon free of arms that do not belong to the Lebanese state.
The US Embassy in Lebanon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
UN resolution implementation
Resolution 1701 has been the cornerstone of talks to end the last year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted in parallel with the war in Gaza and has dramatically escalated over the last five weeks.
US presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who is working on the new proposal, told reporters in Beirut earlier this month that better mechanisms for enforcement were needed as neither Israel nor Lebanon had fully implemented the resolution.
The senior diplomat and the source briefed on the talks told Reuters that the 60-day truce has replaced a proposal last month by the United States and other countries that envisioned a ceasefire for 21 days as a prelude to 1701 coming into full force.
Both, however, cautioned that the deal could still fall through. “There is an earnest push to get to a ceasefire, but it is still hard to get it to materialize,” the diplomat said.
The person briefed on the talks said one element Israel was still pushing for was the ability to carry out “direct enforcement” of the truce via air strikes or other military operations against Hezbollah if it was violating the deal.
Israel’s Channel 12 television reported that Israel was seeking a reinforced version of UN Resolution 1701, to allow Israel to intervene if it felt its security threatened.
Lebanon had not yet been formally briefed on the proposal and could not comment on its details, Lebanese officials said.
The push for a ceasefire for Lebanon comes days before the US presidential election and in parallel with a similar diplomatic drive on Gaza.
Axios reported that Hochstein and US presidential adviser Brett McGurk will land in Israel on Thursday to try to close the deal on Lebanon, which could be implemented within weeks, according to three unnamed sources.
Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to the Axios report.
Israeli and US officials believe that Hezbollah is finally willing to disconnect itself from Hamas in Gaza after some of the blows that the Lebanese group has faced over the past two months, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Axios report said.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Lebanon’s Hezbollah says targeted Israel base in Haifa

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says targeted Israel base in Haifa
Updated 15 min 39 sec ago
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Lebanon’s Hezbollah says targeted Israel base in Haifa

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says targeted Israel base in Haifa
  • Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel intensify more than a month into the war

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched drones at an Israeli base in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday, as clashes intensify more than a month into the war.
Hezbollah fighters “launched an air attack at 7:45 a.m. (0545 GMT) ... with a squadron of attack drones” on a “base in southern Haifa,” the group said in a statement.


Iran appoints first Baluch governor in restive province

Iran appoints first Baluch governor in restive province
Updated 22 min 28 sec ago
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Iran appoints first Baluch governor in restive province

Iran appoints first Baluch governor in restive province
  • Mansour Bijar hails from the Baluch community, a mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic group in a majority Shiite country
  • Sistan-Baluchistan straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces

TEHRAN: Iran’s government on Wednesday appointed the first governor from the Baluch minority in the country’s restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
“Mansour Bijar was chosen as the governor of Sistan-Baluchistan,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh MoHajjerani said after a cabinet meeting.
Bijar, 50, hails from the Baluch community, a mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic group in a majority Shiite country.
His appointment follows an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed at least 10 policemen, later claimed by the Sunni jihadist group Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice).
Sistan-Baluchistan straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is one of the Islamic republic’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and Sunni extremists, and clashes between security forces and armed groups are common.
Jaish Al-Adl, which was formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, is considered a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
In September, Iran appointed the first Sunni governor for Kurdistan province since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In August, President Masoud Pezeshkian named Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, a politician from the Sunni minority, as his vice president for rural development.
Lawmakers later blocked his appointment, with one of them, Mehrdad Lahouti, saying parliament had voted in favor of keeping Hosseinzadeh in the legislature due to “capabilities and experience.”
But they agreed to his resignation on Wednesday in a subsequent vote.
The parliament did not provide further details on the reason for the change.
Also last week, the government named Mohammad Reza Mavalizadeh as the first Arab governor for southwestern Khuzestan province, which has a large Arab minority.
Sunnis account for about 10 percent of Iran’s population. Shiite Islam is the official state religion.