(Reuters) – Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh attended a judicial hearing in Beirut on Wednesday where his Lebanese and French passports were confiscated following an Interpol red notice against him over embezzlement and money-laundering charges.
Salameh faces charges in Lebanon, France and Germany over accusations that he colluded with his brother to take hundreds of millions of dollars from the central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state, and then laundered the money abroad.
He denies the accusations.
On Wednesday, he attended a hearing in Beirut that lasted over an hour and during which he handed over his Lebanese and French passports to Lebanese authorities, a senior judicial source told Reuters.
France issued a warrant for Salameh’s arrest on May 16 after he failed to show up for a Paris court hearing. Days later, Interpol issued a “red notice” for the governor, an alert typically issued for international fugitives.
The notice’s practical legal effect varies by country and does not compel authorities to arrest a wanted individual.
Germany issued its own arrest warrant for Salameh on Tuesday, according to two informed sources. One of them said Lebanon had received verbal notice of the warrant.
The governor told Reuters he had not been notified of the German arrest warrant.
Salameh, who has been central bank governor for 30 years, is facing growing calls to resign ahead of his latest term ending in July, though Lebanon’s caretaker Cabinet took no decision on the matter during a Monday meeting that discussed his case.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Maya Gebeily, Editing by William Maclean)
