France, Germany and Luxembourg have seized properties and frozen assets worth 120 million euros in a major operation linked to money laundering in Lebanon.
EU’s justice agency Eurojust, on Monday said that five properties in Germany and France were seized as well as several bank accounts” were frozen.
The seizures are linked to a probe launched by French investigators last year into the personal wealth of Riad Salameh, the central bank chief in crisis-hit Lebanon.
The Hague-based Eurojust said the operation on Friday was directed against five individuals who were suspected of embezzling public funds in Lebanon of more than $330 million and five million euros, respectively, between 2002 and 2021.
The five suspects include Salameh, a former Merrill Lynch banker and members of his family, a source close to the probe told AFP.
Prosecutors are probing Salameh’s alleged links to criminal association and money laundering, judicial sources said, following a similar move by Switzerland.
A Lebanese judge last week charged Salameh with “illicit enrichment” and money laundering after he failed to attend a court hearing for the fifth time.
Legal proceedings opened against Salameh after complaints filed by anti-graft groups in April last year, supported by a group of Lebanese citizens who lost money since the crisis hit the country in 2019.
Friday’s seizures also include three properties in Germany, valued at 28 million euros as well as other assets worth seven million euros.
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