BEIRUT (AP) – A Lebanese judge has issued a travel ban for the country’s central bank governor, state-run National News Agency and a lawyer said.
The move comes after a corruption lawsuit accused him of embezzlement and dereliction of duty during the country’s financial meltdown.
The decision was the first judicial action taken by authorities in Lebanon against Riad Salameh, who is being investigated in several countries abroad for potential money laundering.
It was not immediately clear if the ban will be implemented. Salameh, 71, has been in the post for nearly three decades and enjoys backing from most politicians, including the country’s prime minister, despite the country’s devastating economic crisis and banking sector collapse.
The travel ban was issued by Ghada Aoun, an investigating judge for the Mount Lebanon district, based on an investigation into a case filed by lawyers of an anti-corruption group known as the People Want to Reform the Regime.
Aoun’s decision came as the value of the Lebanese pound tumbled to new lows on Tuesday, reaching 33,500 to the U.S. dollar. The pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value since the meltdown began, including nearly 10 percent of its value since the beginning of the year.
The source said Aoun’s probe included investigating alleged fraud and complaints about the governor by Lebanese depositors in addition to looking at the central bank’s “financial engineering” operations. The source added that Aoun had summoned Salameh for questioning over the case but the exact date of the session had yet to be publicly disclosed.
Salameh is also facing judicial investigations in France, Switzerland, and other European countries on suspicion of money laundering and illicit enrichment, among other allegations.
Salameh has denied wrongdoing during his three decades as Lebanon’s central bank governor.
Lebanon’s economy has been in a free-fall state since former Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his own resignation and that of his cabinet in October 2019.
The economic and financial crisis is mostly rooted in the sanctions that the United States and its allies have slapped on Lebanon as well as foreign intervention in the Arab nation’s domestic affairs. The current crisis is the most serious issue threatening the country’s stability since a 15-year civil war ended in 1990.