Lebanon central bank head attends corruption hearing - sources

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 has taken steps to freeze the pair's assets.

Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh attended a court hearing in Beirut on Thursday with visiting European investigators probing whether he embezzled vast sums of public funds, three people familiar with the matter said. The 72-year-old governor, 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 motion and ordered a new session on Thursday. Salameh is being investigated alongside his brother in Lebanon and in at least five European countries over accusations of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars over more than a decade and laundering some of the proceeds abroad.

He denies wrongdoing and says the accusations are part of an attempt to scapegoat him for Lebanon's 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 has taken steps to freeze the pair's 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 for decades enjoyed strong backing from Lebanese political and financial elites as he financed a state rife with corruption and enforced policies that earned commercial banks massive profits. But he has faced increased scrutiny since a 2019 financial crisis resulting from decades of profligate spending, corruption and unsustainable policies by Lebanon's leaders.

As probes have converged, some of his long-time allies have viewed him as a burden and have moved to distance themselves from him, according to political sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject. Salameh's has said he would leave the bank at the end of his sixth term in July - a move that would mark a milestone in the crisis. A successor has so far not emerged.