Riad Toufic Salameh (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
: رياض توفيق سلامة, born July 17, 1950) is the current Governor of
Lebanon's central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union,
and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...
,
Banque du Liban
Banque du Liban (BdL, ar, مصرف لبنان, English: Bank of Lebanon) is the central bank of Lebanon. It was established on August 1, 1963, and became fully operational on April 1, 1964. It is currently headed by Riad Salameh.
One of the ma ...
since April 1993.
He was appointed Governor by decree, approved by the
Council of Ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
for a renewable term of six years. He was reappointed for four consecutive terms; in 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2017.
He is the longest-serving central bank governor in the world. Although credited for maintaining the stability of the
Lebanese pound
The pound or lira ( ar, ليرة لبنانية ''līra Libnāniyya''; French: ''livre libanaise''; abbreviation: LL in Latin, in Arabic, historically also £L, ISO code: LBP) is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 piast ...
until 2019, Salameh is accused of corruption, money laundering and running the largest
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
in history.
Early life
Riad Salameh was born in
Antelias
Antelias ( ar, أنطلياس) is a city in Lebanon in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located around 5 km to the north of Beirut.
Etymology
The name is originally Greek, ἀντήλιος – from ἀντί(ant ...
in 1950 into a Christian
Maronite
The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
family of successful business people, long based in
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
His father Toufic Salameh owned the Cedars Hotel in
Broummana
Brummana ( ar, برمانا) is a town in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate in Lebanon. It is located east of Beirut, overlooking the capital and the Mediterranean. Brummana has long been a summer destination for visitors and loc ...
, and his mother Raniah was a "well-known charitable activist" and Lebanese Red Cross member who was murdered in 1982.
He has three siblings.
Salameh grew up in his grandfather's house in Antelias, and attended the Jesuits'
Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour
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, logo = Coat_of_arms_of_Collège_Notre_Dame_de_Jamhour.gif
, logo_size = 140px
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, motto ...
, followed by a bachelor's degree in economics from the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
.
Career
Merrill Lynch
From 1973 to 1993, Salameh worked at
Merrill Lynch
Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
in Beirut and Paris, as an executive manager, and then became a vice-president and financial advisor. He met with businessman
Rafic Hariri
Rafic Bahaa El Deen Al Hariri ( ar, رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese business tycoon and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from ...
, a huge investor in the company, and became his
portfolio manager A portfolio manager (PM) is a professional responsible for making investment decisions and carrying out investment activities on behalf of vested individuals or institutions. Clients invest their money into the PM's investment policy for future grow ...
.
Lebanon's central bank
After the end of the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Hariri became the prime minister and appointed Salameh as the governor of Lebanon's central bank.
He took office on August 1, 1993, and was subsequently reappointed for four consecutive terms in 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2017.
Salameh chairs the BDL Central Council, the Higher Banking Commission, the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission
and the Capital Markets Authority.
He is a member of the board of governors at the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF) and at the
Arab Monetary Fund
The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) is a regional Arab organization, a working sub-organization of the Arab League. It was founded 1976, and has been operational since 1977.
History
The first president and director of the Arab Monetary Fund, from 1 ...
(AMF). In 2012, he chaired the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF) and the
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...
in Tokyo.
On July 1, 2013, Salameh began a two-year term to co-chair the
Financial Stability Board
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum ...
(FSB) Regional Advisory Group for the Middle East and North Africa. He was chairman of the board of governors of the AMF in 2013.
Endeavors
Edward Gardner of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
praised Salameh's policies: "You could have thought they had a crystal ball. It was very wise of the Lebanese regulators not to get involved in all these risky international investments that turned out to be the doom of many banking systems."
In a 2009 interview with ''Executive'' magazine, when asked when will Lebanon feel the impacts of the global financial crisis, Salameh answered:
In 2016, he launched “financial engineering” operations with local lenders, combining a series of
swaps including government debt, and local currency and dollar deposits, which managed to attract foreign reserves and helped to support the country's dollar-pegged currency.
During the
2019–2020 Lebanese protests
The 17 October Protests, commonly referred to as the 17 October Revolution () is a series of civil protests taking place in Lebanon. These national protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications s ...
, Salameh had a feud with the Prime Minister
Hassan Diab
Hassan Diab ( ar, حسان دياب, Ḥassān Dyāb; born 1 June 1959) is a Lebanese academic, engineer and politician who served as the 37th Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 21 January 2020 to 10 September 2021. He was ...
, as the government decided to default on its foreign obligations, but Salameh preferred to keep using foreign reserves to pay interest to international creditors.
Other positions
Salameh chairs the Banque du Liban Central Council, the Higher Banking Commission, the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission
and the Capital Markets Authority.
Salameh is a member of the board of governors at the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF) and at the
Arab Monetary Fund
The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) is a regional Arab organization, a working sub-organization of the Arab League. It was founded 1976, and has been operational since 1977.
History
The first president and director of the Arab Monetary Fund, from 1 ...
(AMF).
Controversies
Ponzi scheme allegations
Following the
2019–20 Lebanese protests
The 17 October Protests, commonly referred to as the 17 October Revolution () is a series of civil protests taking place in Lebanon. These national protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications s ...
, the
Banque du Liban
Banque du Liban (BdL, ar, مصرف لبنان, English: Bank of Lebanon) is the central bank of Lebanon. It was established on August 1, 1963, and became fully operational on April 1, 1964. It is currently headed by Riad Salameh.
One of the ma ...
deposits declined by $31bn in one year, and the loan portfolio of lenders fell by $18bn, thus putting the country in its first financial crisis in three decades. The governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, who has benefitted from an aura of prestige during 30 years, often referred to as the "magician" of finance, was, since March 2020, associated with this financial crisis by several opinions pages, such as
An-Nahar
''An-Nahar'' ( ar, النهار, lit=The Day or The Morning) is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by the ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record f ...
and
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...
. According to them, Riad created a
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
which has lasted for 30 years and which has led the State into bankruptcy and the national currency fall. French president
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
made the same comparison, calling for more transparency in the Lebanese financial system.
The governor answered those allegations that "the interest rates paid in Lebanon were lower than those paid in Egypt and Turkey." Also, he believes that he is "taken as a scapegoat."
Other allegations
In July 2020, a group of Lebanese lawyers formally accused Salameh of various crimes, including the embezzlement of central bank assets, and the mismanagement of public funds.
On 20 July, Lebanese judge Faisal Makki ordered a protective freeze on some of Salameh's assets after ruling in favor of a complaint that he had allegedly undermined the financial standing of the state.
In August 2020, the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...
(OCCRP) reported that offshore companies owned by Salameh had overseas assets worth nearly US$100 million, primarily real estate, mostly in the United Kingdom, and also in Germany and Belgium.
At the end of December 2020, Riad Salameh, pointed out by some of the demonstrators, announced the opening of an ethical investigation. The inquiry is to audit the country's financial system and to verify whether political figures have used their position to override banking restrictions on foreign currency withdrawals and transfers of funds abroad.
In 2021, France and Switzerland opened investigations regarding money laundering by Salameh.
Trial
In February 2022, a subpoena was issued by Judge
Ghada Aoun
Ghada Aoun (Arabic: غادة عون) is a Lebanese judge and Mount Lebanon's state prosecutor. While some see her as a prominent and incorruptible prosecutor, others accuse her of bias towards the President Michel Aoun of the Free Patriotic Mov ...
after Riad Salameh failed to show up to court for questioning, while his whereabouts were unknown after a raid in his office and 2 homes, as part of an investigation for alleged misconduct and corruption. This sparked controversy with another security agency that was accused of protecting him from trial. Later in March 21, Salameh along with his brother Raja were charged for
illicit enrichment
Illicit enrichment generally refers to a situation in which a person has enjoyed some sort of wealth that cannot or has not been justified as coming from a legitimate source of income. The exact definitions for illicit enrichment, and the terminolo ...
by
Ghassan Oueidat but also failed to attend for questioning. His brother, Raja Salameh spent a month in detention but was released on May 22 while on a record bail of 100 billion
LBP.
On June 21, 2022, his home was raided again by Lebanese security forces.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salameh, Riad
1950 births
Living people
Lebanese bankers
Governors of Banque du Liban
Lebanese Maronites
People from Keserwan District
Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour alumni
American University of Beirut alumni