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In a surprising development at the judicial level, Lebanon has officially received a request from the higher authorities of the European Union and Switzerland to provide legal assistance in an ongoing investigation into a file of financial transfers belonging to the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh. .
Al-Akhbar learned that the discriminatory attorney general, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, received direct correspondence (the diplomatic method is not yet known, and whether it is done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Swiss embassy in Beirut or the power Swiss court), asking him to work with the judicial authorities concerned, especially the prosecutor. Financier, in order to obtain details of information on bank transfers belonging to the ruler, his brother Raja Salameh, and his assistant, Marian Howeik, for a total of about $ 400 million.
According to the information, the ongoing investigation is criminal in nature and does not affect only Salameh. Rather, it will be related to the Bank of Lebanon and its affiliated institutions, especially Finance Bank, Middle East Airlines, Intra Bank, and Casino du Liban.
The information indicated that the highest official authorities of the country, especially Presidents Michel Aoun and Hassan Diab, were placed in the airspace of the file, but it was not clear why the request was not attended and attended, noting that a prominent judicial official He said the issue may be related to the closure resulting from the confrontation. Corona pandemic. However, another official said that the Lebanese authorities are trying to verify whether the European request is correct.
The sources indicated that the European authorities are studying Salameh’s file within a file that includes a large number of Lebanese personalities according to a “list of suspicions” drawn up in cooperation between France, the United Kingdom and the United States, which requested the European Union participate in the follow-up of the file and not limit the sanctions to the US Treasury, and that the matter remains unrelated. Only what Washington calls “combating the financing of terrorism.”
According to sources, France and Great Britain decided unilaterally to investigate the matter, and during the last week of December last year they discussed arranging informal meetings that include an investigation with Salameh, or listening to him, and the governor traveled more than once to Paris from Sin clarify the picture, especially since the French side has a special file based on investigations carried out by a French institution that works to investigate financial files of personalities working in the public sphere or of large official institutions, including banks.
The sources claimed that the collateral contacts that took place with the French authorities concerned about the BDL file included, within a specified period, the idea of an arrangement whereby Salameh would resign from his position as part of a deal that prevented him from being prosecuted. A French official told Al-Akhbar that Paris had made no secret of its desire for major changes, including the Banque du Liban, after analyzing its activities, but did not offer any guarantees. He added that France “cannot provide guarantees to anyone, either at home or abroad, and that Europe witnessed several cases during which former presidents and leaders of countries and parties were persecuted, and all the pressure to stop the accusation it didn’t work. “
On the other hand, sources noted that the Lebanese authorities asked why the sanctions list expected from the US capital had not been issued earlier this year. He said that no one has given explanations about it. But the Americans said that the record of sanctions under the guise of corruption should not be limited to what the Treasury Department issues, and that France promised that Europe would play its role in this context. But there are complications in the European judicial mechanism that are not similar to what happens in the United States.
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