European judges quiz aide to Lebanon central bank chief

European judges quiz aide to Lebanon central bank chief

NNA - A European judicial delegation on Friday completed its second hearing with Marianne Hoayek, assistant to the governor of Lebanon’s central bank.

Hoayek is being questioned as a suspect in a money laundering case involving European bank accounts belonging to Gov. Riad Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh.

The EU judicial delegation also questioned Madeleine Shaheen, assistant to Marwan Kheireddine, chairman of Al-Mawarid Bank.

The delegation is led by French judge Aude Buresi, and includes a Munich public prosecutor and investigators from Luxembourg.

A judicial source told Arab News: “The delegation asked Hoayek about a hundred questions, and she answered all of them.”

Hoayek attended the hearing without her legal representative, and was questioned on her role in the Banque du Liban and its financial operations, as well as her work as an executive adviser to Salameh since April 2020.

The two sessions were attended by the first investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abu Samra, who is in charge of executing European authorizations, along with Judge Helena Iskandar, head of the Cases Authority at the Ministry of Justice, who is representing the Lebanese state in her claim against Salameh.

Judge Buresi began questioning Kheireddine in France several weeks ago in connection with charges that included “associating