File – Lebanese bank customers hold pictures of the owners of Lebanese banks and caretaker PM Najib Mikati and Central bank chief calling them “the enemies of society”, during a protest in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 11 June 2022. (EPA)
France is investigating allegations that two Lebanese banks transferred billions of dollars out of the country despite strict capital controls during a financial crisis, a source close to the case and lawyers said Monday.
The probe is the latest in France to look into alleged corruption linked to the Lebanese economic crisis from late 2019, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history.
Commercial banks imposed draconian withdrawal restrictions when the economy collapsed, preventing depositors from accessing their life savings or transferring them abroad.
Some became so desperate they held up their own banks to try to obtain their money.
Meanwhile some institutions were getting funds out “to shelter considerable sums for the benefit of private interests,” according to lawyers for the plaintiffs in the latest case, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth.
The new investigation was opened at the start of the month, the source with knowledge of the matter said.
The source added that it follows two legal complaints in July from the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon and the anti-corruption group Sherpa.
It will be looking into “the transfer of around $15 billion after and during the 2019 financial crisis from two leading Lebanese banks to their European subsidiaries,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Such transfers were “in violation by the banks of their commitments” and took place “with the complicity of the former leaders of the central bank,” they added.
The France-based banks accused of receiving stolen goods among other offenses are the Banque Richelieu France, linked to Lebanon’s SGBL bank, and the French subsidiary of Bank Audi, according to a copy of the complaints seen by AFP.
Bank Audi did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Banque Richelieu France denied any wrongdoing and told AFP it would cooperate with investigators.
French experts have already investigated the Lebanese banking system’s inner workings during investigations into alleged “ill-gotten gains”.
They targeted the former central bank chief Riad Salameh and ex-prime minister Najib Mikati, both of whom deny the charges.
Salameh, who headed Lebanon’s central bank between 1993 and 2023, has faced numerous graft accusations in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad, all of which he denies.
He was charged in Lebanon last year for allegedly embezzling $44 million from the central bank.
FRANCE24/AFP
