BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh maintained his innocence amid allegations of corruption, saying in a radio interview on Saturday that his conscience was clear.
Salameh is under investigation in Switzerland on charges related to embezzlement, and probes are under way or being planned in several other European countries.
Last week, a Lebanese prosecutor asked Salameh for documents relating to suspicions of embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion over an allegation that more than $300 million had been taken from the bank through a company owned by his brother.
“I have not benefitted one penny from the central bank,” Salameh told Radio Free Lebanon.
Salameh continued to dismiss the allegations as a smear campaign on Saturday, saying “there are those who want my head”.
Lebanon’s crippled banking system is at the heart of a financial crisis that erupted in late 2019. Banks have since blocked transfers abroad and cut access to deposits due to a scarcity of dollars.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Christina Fincher)
