Officials say prosecutors have issued an international arrest warrant on Riad Salameh, Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor, over his failure to show up for questioning on corruption charges.
Mr Salameh was supposed to appear before French prosecutors on Tuesday as part of an ongoing European probe.
He, however, failed to appear.
A Western diplomat who spoke under the condition of anonymity confirmed the warrant but said he’s not cleared to speak with the press, according to the Associated Press.
Chanez Mensous, a lawyer at the French anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Sherpa, which and other organisations filed initial legal complaints against Mr Salameh and associates in May 2021, confirmed the warrant was issued.
But the Lebanese officials have not confirmed receipt of the arrest warrant.
In a statement, the embattled central bank governor said that the arrest warrant was “a violation of the law.”
He also criticised the French judicial process, saying confidential information about the case was leaked to the media.
Mr Salameh, 72, has been the target of a series of judicial investigations at home and abroad on fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment allegations.
European investigators looking into the fortune he has amassed during three decades in the job had scheduled Tuesday for a hearing in Paris.
The European judicial team from France, Germany and Luxembourg has also been conducting a corruption investigation into an array of financial crimes they alleged were committed by Mr Salameh.
The investigation also contained a long list of his associates from Lebanon’s central bank and Lebanese commercial banks and auditing companies.
The allegations include illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million.
Mr Salameh, 72, who has held his post for almost 30 years, has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.
He has insisted that his wealth came from his previous job as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, inherited properties and investments.
At a visit to Lebanon in March, the European delegation questioned Mr Salameh about the Lebanese CBN’s assets and investments outside the country.
The investment includes a Paris apartment that the governor owns and his brother Raja Salameh’s brokerage firm Forry Associates Ltd.
Forry is a British Virgin Islands-registered company that listed Mr Salameh’s brother as its beneficiary.
The three European governments, in March 2022, froze more than $130 million in assets linked to the probe.
