Lebanon central bank head attends corruption hearing – sources

By Laila Bassam and Timour Azhari

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanons central bank governor Riad Salameh attended a court hearing in Beirut on Thursday which was also witnessed by European investigators looking into whether he embezzled vast sums of dollars in public funds, two judicial sources said.

The 72-year-old Salameh, whose 30-year tenure at the bank is to end this summer, had missed a session on Wednesday after his lawyer objected to the French and German officials presence.

But the presiding judge dismissed that.

Salameh is being investigated alongside his brother in Lebanon and at least five European countries over accusations of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.

He denies wrongdoing and says the accusations are part of an attempt to scapegoat him for Lebanons financial meltdown.

His brother Raja, who also denies wrongdoing, is meant to appear in front of a Lebanese judge on Friday, also with European investigators present.

Lebanon is also trying to freeze the pairs assets.

Last year, prosecutors in Germany said Salameh was a suspect in a case that led to the freezing of some 120 million euros($132 million) of Lebanese assets abroad.

Salameh‘s intention to leave the bank at the end of his sixth term in July would mark a milestone in a national financial crisis resulting from decades of profligate spending, corruption and unsustainable policies by Lebanon’s leaders.

Salameh‘s support among Lebanon’s elite is starting to erode.

(Reporting by Laila Al Bassam and Timour Azhari;Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)