BEIRUT: Chaos in Lebanon worsened on Wednesday when central bank governor Riad Salameh boycotted a hearing at which he was to be questioned by European investigators on accusations of embezzling public money.

Instead he sent his lawyer, Hafez Zakhour, who said Salameh would not be appearing because the European interrogation session was “a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”

Salameh, 72, who has run the central bank for six terms spanning 30 years, is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries over accusations of stealing $330 million. He denies the accusations and says he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon’s economic meltdown.
Since October 2019, Lebanon has been facing the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history due to decades of corruption and mismanagement by the ruling political class.

Critics accuse the central bank of providing cover for corrupt individuals and some banks through financial engineering operations, forcing over half the population into poverty.

French and German investigators flew to Beirut this week, and submitted questions to be put to Salameh by presiding judge Charbel Bou Samra on Wednesday. After the European delegation waited for about two hours, the interrogation session was adjourned.

Bou Samra set a new date for Salameh’s hearing on Thursday, after ruling that the European delegation’s investigation did not contradict Lebanese law. Zakhour confirmed that his client would attend the new hearing.Under Lebanese law, the European delegation cannot question Salameh directly, but only through a Lebanese judge and mediator.

Separately, the Lebanese state, represented by Judge Helena Iskandar, filed new charges on Wednesday against Salameh, his brother Raja and his adviser Marianne Hoayek. All were accused of bribery, forgery, use of counterfeiters, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion.

Iskandar demanded the arrest of the Salameh brothers and Hoayek, the seizure of their properties, and for their bank accounts, and those of their spouses and children in Lebanon and abroad, to be frozen.

A judicial source said: “Judge Iskandar’s procedures aim to preserve the right of the Lebanese state in a local investigation.”