French prosecutors name bank chairman a suspect in Lebanese central bank probe

FILE PHOTO: Lebanese police stand outside the Justice Palace as Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh attends a court hearing alongside European investigators, according to sources, in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Paris (Reuters) - French prosecutors said they have put a Lebanese banker under formal investigation, the latest move in a cross-border probe looking into whether Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh, embezzled vast sums of public funds.

The Lebanese banker, Marwan Kheireddine, who is the chairman of Lebanon's AM Bank, is suspected of participation in a criminal association and aggravated money laundering, a spokesperson at the Paris office of the National Financial Prosecutors said on Friday.