Salameh won't be questioned by European delegations, at least for now

The first European judicial delegation that will question senior Lebanese banking and financial officials will arrive in Beirut on Monday and will be followed by two other delegations over the next 10 days, media reports said.

“Two delegations from Germany and Luxembourg will separately arrive first and will be followed days later by a French delegation,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported Monday.

“The first delegation will be comprised of judges, specialized investigators and judicial police members, as part of an investigation involving defendants and suspects in corruption and money laundering operations carried out by Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in cooperation with members of his family, close associates and bankers,” the daily said.

The French delegation will meanwhile carry out interrogations from January 14 to January 18.

Judicial sources told al-Akhbar that Salameh’s name is still on the list of those who will be questioned, seeing as “he is the main element in the investigation that is being carried out by the three countries.”

“State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat’s remarks that Salameh won’t be questioned are related to the first round of interrogations and French judge Aude Buresi has requested to interrogate him and others and she is supposed to directly question him,” the sources said.

Judicial sources, however, told al-Akhbar that “the probability that Salameh won’t show up is very strong, especially that indications suggest that the French side intends to interrogate him as a suspect and that the judge might immediately file charges against him.”