Lebanon judge to lift travel ban on central bank chief: judicial officials

Lebanon judge to lift travel ban on central bank chief: judicial officials

BEIRUT: A Lebanese judge will lift a travel ban imposed on the country’s embattled central bank chief, who has been summoned for a hearing in Paris next month, two judicial officials said Wednesday.

Riad Salameh is part of a political class widely blamed for Lebanon’s unprecedented economic crisis that the World Bank says is of a scale usually associated with wars.

He is the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment, among other allegations — including in France where he has been summoned for a hearing on May 16.

“Judge Ghada Aoun will lift the travel ban on Riad Salameh tomorrow,” the first judicial official told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Aoun slapped Salameh with the ban in January last year after an activist group filed a lawsuit against the central bank chief, alleging financial misconduct.

A second judicial official, also requesting anonymity, confirmed the restrictions would be lifted on Thursday.

“He will have no excuse not to go to France” for the hearing, the second official added.

France, Germany and Luxembourg in March last year seized assets