European investigators question Lebanon central bank chief's assistant in fraud probe

European investigators in Beirut questioned an assistant to Lebanon's central bank governor on Thursday as part of a probe into whether the governor embezzled and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds, local media and a judicial source said.

Governor Riad Salameh is being investigated in Lebanon and in at least five European countries over allegedly taking more than $300 million from the central bank together with his brother over more than a decade.

A schedule for the European investigators seen by Reuters showed Marianne Houayek, 42 and a longtime assistant to the governor, was to be questioned as a suspect in the case. Others were set to be questioned as witnesses.

A lawyer for Houayek did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday and neither made public comments regarding the case.

The Salameh brothers have both denied wrongdoing. Riad Salameh says he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon's financial crisis that erupted in 2019.

A French court document seen by Reuters says up to $5 million euros from the central bank ultimately went to Houayek via accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Houayek is also mentioned in a 2021 Swiss request for legal assistance from Lebanese authorities, in which Swiss authorities allege she was the beneficiary of funds that were diverted from the central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state.

A senior judicial source told Reuters that European investigators asked Houayek about the transfers, which she said were funds she inherited from her father that Salameh had helped her transfer outside Lebanon.

The senior judicial source said Houayek denied knowing the governor's brother Raja Salameh or having heard of Forry Associates, the company that European prosecutors suspect Riad and Raja used to divert funds from the central bank in the form of commissions.

The source added that she was asked about Marwan Kheireddine, a Lebanese banker whom prosecutors suspect forged bank documents to help Raja and Riad hide illicit sources of wealth.

The investigators were set to question Raja on Tuesday and Wednesday, but he did not attend and his lawyer said he would be unavailable for one week due to health reasons.

The governor, his brother and Houayek have been charged with financial crimes in two separate cases in Lebanon but have not yet been formally and publicly charged in the investigating European countries.

On Friday, European investigators are set to question caretaker finance minister Youssef el-Khalil, who still serves as the central bank's head of financial operations, as well as other top officials of the bank next week.

(Reuters)