Lebanon’s Offshore Governor - OCCRP
▻https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/lebanons-offshore-governor
Extrait d’un long et intéressant article trouvé sur le fil Twitter de Pierre Abi Saab
Offshore companies owned by the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon have quietly invested in overseas assets worth nearly US$100 million in recent years, even as he has encouraged others to invest in his economically devastated country.
Rumors of Central Bank Governor Riad Salame’s offshore wealth have swirled around Beirut for years, but the extent of the investments by one of Lebanon’s most prominent public officials has remained secret — until now.
OCCRP and its Lebanese partner, Daraj.com, tracked Salame’s vast overseas investments, finding multiple real estate deals in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium made over the course of a decade. Company accounts suggest the investments were often financed by borrowing, with tens of millions of euros in credit sometimes secured without collateral.
Much of his money went to the U.K., a favorite destination for overseas investors looking for a discreet place to make their money grow. Foreign corporations with undisclosed ownership now hold property valued at more than 84 billion pounds ($104 billion) in England and Wales, which has prompted calls for greater transparency in the U.K.
When contacted by OCCRP, Salame said he has broken no laws — that he amassed “significant private wealth” before he joined the central bank in 1993, and that “nothing prevents me from investing it.”