On Thursday, European investigators in Beirut interrogated an aide to the central bank governor of Lebanon, as part of an ongoing inquiry into whether the governor
embezzled and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds. According to a judicial source and local media, the governor, Riad Salameh, is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European nations over allegations that he, along with his brother, misappropriated more than $300 million from the central bank over the course of a decade.
Marianne Houayek, who is 42 years old and has been a long-standing assistant to the governor, was scheduled to be questioned as a suspect by European investigators, according to a schedule seen by Reuters. At the time of writing, neither Houayek nor her lawyer had commented publicly on the matter.
Both Salameh brothers have rejected the allegations, with Riad Salameh alleging that he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon's 2019 financial crisis. A French court document seen by Reuters stated that Houayek received up to €5 million from the central bank through accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg. Houayek was also referenced in a Swiss request for legal assistance from Lebanese authorities in 2021, in which Swiss authorities claimed that she benefited from funds that were diverted from the central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state.
The European investigators previously questioned the governor in Beirut in March and returned on Monday for further interviews. While they had planned to question the governor's brother, Raja Salameh, on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the inquiry, he was unable to attend due to health reasons. The governor, his brother, and Houayek have been accused of financial crimes in two separate cases in Lebanon, but they have not yet been formally charged in the European nations conducting investigations.
The European investigators are expected to interview caretaker finance minister Youssef el-Khalil, who still serves as the head of financial operations for the central bank, as well as other top officials from the bank. Photo by Karan Jain from Washington, DC, USA, Wikimedia commons.