Lawsuit Against Former Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for Embezzlement

Lebanese prosecutors indicted former Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh on Monday on several charges, including embezzlement and illicit enrichment, according to a judicial source speaking to AFP, following a complaint filed by the bank’s administration.

Salameh (76) faces a series of legal proceedings. He was re-arrested on July 31 after failing to appear for questioning sessions and was detained in a government hospital outside Beirut, where he is held under strict security guard.

The judicial source, who requested anonymity, stated that “Beirut’s Appellate Public Prosecutor Judge Raja Hamoush indicted former Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh and former Board of Directors Chairman of Bank of Beirut Samir Hanna,” on charges related to “establishing shell companies, misappropriating funds belonging to the Central Bank of Lebanon, and using these funds to purchase shares and bonds from commercial banks through fraudulent means, in addition to illicit enrichment, money laundering, and bribery.”

Hamoush requested the issuance of an arrest warrant for Salameh and referred Hanna’s case to the Public Prosecution after his questioning. Hanna had previously posted a financial bail of one million dollars to secure his release.

The Public Prosecutor referred the file to Beirut’s First Investigating Judge to continue the investigations and take appropriate measures.

In January 2026, Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Karim Saeed announced that he had filed a criminal complaint in Lebanon on charges related to the misappropriation of central bank funds, illicit enrichment, and suspicions of money laundering.

The Governor did not name Salameh or Hanna in his complaint.

A week later, Bank of Beirut, one of Lebanon’s largest banks, announced Hanna’s resignation after more than six decades of service.

Earlier, the Central Bank of Lebanon told AFP that it had become “a victim of embezzlement amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, committed by the former Central Bank Governor and several of his associates.”

The current Governor included the judicial measures taken by Lebanon domestically and abroad, including in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Luxembourg, as part of “the full realization of its rights and ensuring that all recovered amounts are exclusively allocated to repaying depositors’ funds.”

Salameh was arrested in Lebanon in September 2024 and indicted by the judiciary on several crimes, including “embezzlement of public funds” and “forgery,” after becoming the focus of local and European investigations over three years, which suspected he had illegally accumulated real estate and banking assets. He was released the following year after posting bail exceeding $14 million.

No verdict has been issued against Salameh, who served as Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon from 1993 until July 2023, in any of the cases he is facing.

He consistently denies committing any wrongdoing, asserting that he is being used as a “scapegoat” to bear responsibility for the economic collapse Lebanon has been experiencing since 2019.