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☆ Lebanon’s central bank boss urged to resign after French arrest warrant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Lebanon's deputy PM says Salameh should quitCentral bank head under investigation for fraudFrench prosecutors issue arrest warrantBEIRUT, May 18 (Reuters) - Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami called on Thursday for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to resign following France’s issuing of an arrest warrant against him as part of a fraud investigation. He plans to appeal against the French warrant, which he told Al-Hadath violated principles of a Lebanese-French agreement without giving more details. A Lebanese judge overseeing a local case against Salameh has rejected his lawyers' defence arguments, clearing the way for a June 15 hearing, a senior judicial source told Reuters. The judicial source told Reuters a new hearing date for Raja Salameh had also been set for June 15. French prosecutors' warrant for Riad Salameh, issued on Tuesday, was the first from any of the foreign probes into him.

☆ Lebanon central bank chief's brother questioned at European fraud probe hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In a nearly five-hour session in which Raja was questioned about his brother's wealth, he told investigators that Forry was solely owned by him. He said $155 million in funds he amassed came from investment profits made over ten years from accrued interest and foreign exchange transactions. The documents say prosecutors suspect Riad used fake banking documents in Raja's name to cover up illicit sources of wealth. The European investigators are also set on Friday to question caretaker finance minister Youssef el-Khalil , who still serves as the central bank's head of financial operations. French prosecutors have informed Riad that they intend to press charges of fraud and aggravated money laundering during a planned hearing in France on May 16.

☆ European investigators question Lebanon c.bank chief's assistant in fraud probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, April 27 (Reuters) - European investigators in Beirut questioned an assistant to Lebanon's central bank governor on Thursday as part of a probe into whether the governor embezzled and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds, local media and a judicial source said. Marianne Houayek, 42 and a longtime assistant to the governor, was scheduled to be questioned as a suspect, according to a schedule for the European investigators seen by Reuters. A French court document seen by Reuters says up to $5 million euros from the central bank ultimately went to Houayek via accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The European investigators questioned the governor in Beirut in March and returned on Monday for further hearings. The European investigators are also set to question caretaker finance minister Youssef el-Khalil, who still serves as the central bank's head of financial operations, as well as other top officials of the bank.

☆ French prosecutors accuse Lebanon central bank chief of hiding fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIRUT/PARIS, April 21 (Reuters) - French prosecutors have told Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh they plan to press preliminary fraud and money laundering charges against him, partly based on allegedly forged bank statements used to conceal his wealth, according to French court documents seen by Reuters. During that hearing, French prosecutors intend to press the preliminary charges and formally name him a suspect. As part of his response to accusations, Salameh sent French prosecutors a 65-page memo supplied by Marwan Kheireddine, the chairman of Lebanon's AM Bank. But according to the French court documents seen by Reuters, French investigators have reached the conclusion the bank statements were fake. Salameh "used fake records of bank accounts at AM Bank… provided by Marwan Kheireddine, to justify in a deceitful manner the origin of his properties or revenues," French prosecutors say in the court documents.

The Lebanese bank did not respond to a message seeking comment. Bank statements seen by Reuters show how the Salameh accounts at AM Bank ballooned from $15 million in 1993 to more than $150 million by 2019. Lebanese prosecutors suspect the accounts, from which regular cash withdrawals were made, were used to conceal money laundering activity, a Lebanese judicial source said on Saturday. According to the lawyer, French prosecutors have summoned his client with a view of naming him a formal suspect. If French prosecutors suspected Salameh of wrongdoing, they could not hear him as a witness, Sur said.

☆ European investigators to revisit Lebanon in central banker fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, April 5 (Reuters) - European investigators will return to Beirut in April to question two key people who have been charged in Lebanon in a case involving alleged fraud by Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh, two sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Reuters. Lebanon and at least five European countries are investigating whether Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015. The three have been charged in Lebanon with embezzlement, illicit enrichment and money laundering in two separate cases but have not been detained. The European investigators are due to arrive in Beirut on April 24. The governor enjoyed strong backing from Lebanese elites in his three decades as central bank chief, during which the central bank financed a state rife with corruption and enforced policies that earned commercial banks massive profits.

☆ Lebanese security forces fire tear gas at crowds protesting pound devaluation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirBEIRUT, March 22 (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces on Wednesday fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters, mostly retired members of the security forces, who had gathered near government buildings in Beirut in anger at deteriorating economic conditions. Crowds gathered in the streets of downtown Beirut between parliament and the government serail, carrying Lebanon's tricolour or flags bearing the logos of security forces. They were outraged at the deteriorating value of state pensions paid in the local currency. One soldier was seen treating a young boy who was affected by the tear gas. "He's suffering just like me," he told Reuters, clutching two of the tear gas canisters fired just moments earlier.

☆ Lebanon to sell unlimited US dollars to prop up collapsing pound
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, March 21 (Reuters) - Lebanon's central bank will begin selling unlimited amounts of U.S. dollars in a bid to halt the spiralling devaluation of the Lebanese pound, Governor Riad Salameh said on Tuesday. Salameh set a new rate for Sayrafa, the central bank's exchange platform, at 90,000 Lebanese pounds per dollar on Tuesday. The pound has lost more than 98% of its value since the economy began unravelling in 2019. Tuesday's move came with the approval of the caretaker premier and caretaker finance minister and aimed to "limit the devaluation of the Lebanese pound in the parallel market," Salameh said. The pound began rising in value on the parallel market immediately after the decision was announced.

☆ Lebanon judge sets March 15 hearing for central bank chief in graft probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, March 6 (Reuters) - A Lebanese investigative judge has scheduled a March 15 hearing for Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh as part of a cross-border corruption probe into Salameh and close associates, a judicial source said. Judge Charbel Abu Samra took over the case late last month after another judge charged Salameh with embezzlement, illicit enrichment and money laundering. The charges against Salameh are the product of an 18-month probe into whether Salameh and his brother, Raja, embezzled more than $300 million from the Central Bank between 2002 and 2015. Salameh, central bank governor since 1993, still enjoys backing from powerful Lebanese leaders. He was charged last year over illicit enrichment in a case related to the purchase and rental of Paris apartments, including some to Lebanon's central bank.

☆ Palestinians living in refugee camps are being paid $350 to fight for Russia in Ukraine: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Palestinians living in Lebanese refugee camps are being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine. The Jerusalem Post reported that some 300 refugees have already been deployed. The majority of Palestinians being deployed to Ukraine come from the largest Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, Ein El Hilweh Camp, the report said. But it is known that Russia has previously recruited Syrian volunteers to fight in Ukraine. Riad Kahwaji, a Dubai-based security analyst, told The Media Line that Russia recruiting Palestinian refugees to fight in Ukraine wouldn't be surprising.

☆ Swiss regulator investigates 12 banks in Lebanese central banker corruption case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ZURICH, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Switzerland's financial regulator has investigated 12 banks and launched enforcement proceedings against two of them in relation to corruption charges against longtime central banker Riad Salameh, it said on Monday. Lebanese authorities charged Salameh, his brother Raja and one of his assistants on Thursday with money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment after months of delay in the high-profile case. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) on Monday said it has investigated 12 banks in relation to allegations of money laundering linked to the case. FINMA declined to comment on the nature of the enforcement proceedings in this case, or the banks involved. The Salameh brothers are alleged to have transferred $330 million to Swiss accounts via the offshore company Forry Associates, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported.

The charges come in the waning months of Salameh's latest term as governor, a position he has held for three decades and for which he was often celebrated - until 2019, when Lebanon's economy began to unravel. In comments to Reuters on Thursday, Salameh said the charges were "not an indictment" and pledged to abide by the judicial procedures. The governor has dismissed accusations of illicit enrichment as part of an effort to scapegoat him for Lebanon's financial collapse. TWO INTERPRETATIONSSalameh was charged last year over illicit enrichment in a case related to the purchase and rental of Paris apartments, including some to Lebanon's central bank. Oueidat referred the case - which included Salameh and a number of unidentified associates - to a Beirut prosecutor to file charges including illicit enrichment, embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion.

☆ Explainer: The probes into Lebanese central bank chief Salameh
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BEIRUT, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Lebanese authorities charged longtime central bank governor Riad Salameh, his brother Raja and one of his assistants on Thursday with money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment after months of delay in the high-profile case. Top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat stopped Tannous from attending a Paris meeting last year with European prosecutors investigating Salameh, Reuters reported. In June 2022, Oueidat ordered a prosecutor to formally charge Salameh with crimes including money laundering, illicit enrichment, forgery and tax evasion. On Thursday, a newly appointed prosecutor, judge Raja Hamoush, charged Salameh with money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment. The finance minister said this month replacing him would be difficult, citing Lebanon's political complexities.

☆ Lebanon's central bank chief says he will not renew his term
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CAIRO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Lebanon's embattled central bank chief Riad Salameh said on Sunday he would leave his post once his latest term ends in July even if he is asked to stay longer. "No one has asked me to continue [as central bank chief] but even if they do, I think this is enough," he said in a televised interview with Egypt's AlQahera News on Sunday. Salameh, who became the head of the central bank in 1993, has come under increased scrutiny both at home and abroad since Lebanon's financial system began unraveling in 2019. The collapse has locked most savers out of their bank accounts and pushed more than 80% of Lebanon's population below the poverty line. The central bank had announced in November 2022 that a "specialized and professional international auditing firm" had completed an audit of the gold reserves but had not announced its value.

☆ Lebanon devalues official exchange rate by 90%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIRUT, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Lebanon adopted a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Wednesday, the central bank said, marking a 90% devaluation from its previous official rate that had been unchanged for 25 years. The shift from the old rate of 1,507 is still far off the parallel market where most trades take place. Two market participants said the pound was changing hands at around 59,000 per dollar on Tuesday. Lebanese officials have described the adoption of the new official exchange rate as a step towards unifying an array of rates that have emerged during the crisis. Analysts expect the shift to have less impact on the wider economy, which is increasingly dollarized and where most trades take place according to the parallel market rate.

BEIRUT, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Feb. 1, central bank governor Riad Salameh said, marking a 90% devaluation from its current official rate that has remained unchanged for 25 years. The pound has lost some 97% of its value since it began to split from the 1,507 rate in 2019. In order to ease the impact of this shift, banks would be given five years "to reconstitute the losses due to the devaluation," he said. Several rates remain, including the official rate, the central bank's Sayrafa exchange platform rate which currently stands at 38,000 pounds per U.S. dollar, and the parallel market rate. While capital controls have never been formally imposed in Lebanon, banks since 2019 have imposed their own controls, severely limiting withdrawals in dollars and Lebanese pounds.

[1/3] George Bezdjian, whose daughter Jessica died in 2020 port explosion, holds her picture during a protest against steps taken this week to hamstring a probe into the 2020 port blast, in Beirut, Lebanon January 26, 2023. With friends and allies of Lebanon's most powerful factions, including Hezbollah, among those charged, the establishment struck back swiftly on Wednesday, when the prosecutor general charged Bitar with usurping powers. With deep fissures in the judiciary exposed, the tussle adds to the unravelling of a state accelerated by a three-year-long financial crisis, left to fester by the ruling elite. Attempts by a Lebanese judge to investigate Salameh have hit obstacles in Lebanon, where politicians have big sway over the judiciary. In opposing Bitar, Hezbollah has accused the United States of meddling in the investigation and Bitar of political bias.

BEIRUT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Lebanese bankers told European prosecutors they believed that commissions now at the centre of a graft probe had been paid to the central bank, four sources said, while investigators suspect the cash illegally ended up with the governor's brother. They suspect central bank governor Riad Salameh and his brother Raja illegally took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015 and invested some of the funds in Europe. The bankers and officials told the visiting European prosecutors that they were not aware that the funds had gone to Forry Associates, the four sources said. The four sources said former central bank officials and private bankers had told the European prosecutors they first heard of Forry Associates when the investigation began and the name appeared in the media. A separate but related Lebanese probe charged Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment in March, which he has denied.

☆ French prosecutors name Ukrainian suspect in Lebanese central bank probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( David Gauthier-Villars | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 5 (Reuters) - French prosecutors said on Monday they have put a Ukrainian woman linked to the governor of Lebanon's central bank under formal investigation as part of a cross-border probe into alleged fraud to the detriment of the Lebanese state. A lawyer for Kosakova said he and his client would "react very soon" to the French prosecutors' decisions. Salameh, who has not been named as a suspect by French prosecutors but who had some of his real estate assets in France seized as part of the investigation, did not respond to a message seeking comment. A French lawyer for Salameh, Pierre-Olivier Sur, said the June decision on Kosakova "doesn't change anything". In the interview with Reuters, Riad Salameh has said he bought real estate assets with his own money, earned when he worked as an investment banker.

☆ Lebanon central bank to use forex rate of 15,000 pounds per dollar as of Feb 1
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Lebanon's central bank will adopt an exchange rate of 15,000 Lebanese pounds per U.S. dollar as of Feb. 1 as part of a process to unify the country's multiple exchange-rate system, Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Monday. The parallel market exchange rate was hovering at around 39,000 pounds per dollar on Monday. Salameh said the rate for withdrawals governed by central bank circulars would be brought up to 15,000 pounds as of Feb. 1. The central bank would then have just two rates, Salameh said: 15,000, and a rate set by the central bank's Sayrafa exchange platform, which sat at around 30,000 pounds per dollar on Monday. Depositors have paid a big price, and have been mostly unable to access dollar savings or forced to make withdrawals in pounds at unfavourable rates.

☆ With balloons and contact cards, first Israel-Qatar flight heads to World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Amir Cohen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Football fans queue before boarding the first direct commercial flight between Israel and Qatar for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel November 20, 2022. "There were a few concerns, I cannot deny that," said Sagi Ashkevitz, who was flying out with three friends to his second World Cup. Those boarding the TUS Airways plane at Ben Gurion Airport had originally been told they would have a brief stopover in Cyprus. Six more Tel Aviv-Doha flights for the World Cup have been approved so far, Mizrahi said. Riad Ziadna, a member of Israel's Arab minority who held a soccer ball as he stood in the check-in line, said he believed the World Cup would be "the starter's pistol for coexistence all over the Middle East".

Companies Tesla Inc FollowSAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - California prosecutors have asked a court to delay a trial for a Tesla (TSLA.O) Model S driver who faces manslaughter charges over a 2019 crash that left two people dead, according to court documents. Prosecutors want to push back the trial to late February or later, saying two police officers assigned to the case would be on medical leave and vacation. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said the two sides will set a new date for the trial on Tuesday. In October, prosecutors charged Tesla driver Kevin George Aziz Riad of "vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence." Tesla was not charged in the case, but the company's claims about its partially automated driving systems are expected to be in focus.

☆ In bankrupt Lebanon, locals mine bitcoin and buy groceries with tether, as $1 is now worth 15 cents
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +32 min

Others arrange clandestine meetings via Telegram to swap the stablecoin tether for U.S. dollars in order to buy groceries. In Jan., police raided a small crypto mining farm in the hydro-powered town of Jezzine, seizing and dismantling mining rigs in the process. But mining crypto tokens to earn a living is not for everybody. Younes tells CNBC that he initially moved 15% of his money into bitcoin, and he kept the remaining balance in cash. Lebanon has six bitcoin ATMs — one in Aamchit and five in Beirut, according to metrics offered by coinatmradar.com.

Critics say Tesla's claims and Autopilot have contributed to accidents – and deaths - by making drivers inattentive. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Tesla itself should face criminal charges over its self-driving claims, Reuters reported. The car's Autopilot system, which can control speed, braking and steering, was engaged at the time of the crash. The family of Gilberto Lopez is suing Tesla with trial scheduled for July. "The narrative of Tesla potentially shifts from this innovative tech company doing cool things to this company just mired in legal trouble.

BEIRUT, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Lebanon plans to slash its official exchange rate, replacing the 1,507 per dollar rate adopted 25 years ago with a rate of 15,000 in a step towards unifying numerous exchange rates, the finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday. The Lebanese pound has plunged by more than 95% from the official rate since Lebanon fell into financial crisis three years ago, with dollars currently changing hands at around 38,000 on a parallel market. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"The goal is for there to be a unification of the exchange rates in Lebanon," Finance Minister Youssef Khalil said, calling the decision a "fundamental step" in that direction. Unifying the numerous exchange rates operating in the country is one of several conditions set by the IMF for Lebanon to secure a badly needed aid package. Khalil noted that unification of the exchange rates was an IMF demand, but added it was also something that must happen regardless, saying the government was taking a gradual approach.

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