Lebanon informed by Germany of arrest warrant for central bank governor

Lebanon has been verbally informed by Germany of an arrest warrant against Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh “on charges of corruption, forgery… and money laundry and embezzlement,” a senior judicial source told Reuters on Tuesday.
A second source familiar with matter confirmed the arrest warrant to Reuters. Salameh has denied any wrongdoing.
The warrant is the second foreign arrest warrant issued for Salameh within the span of a week.
Salameh, 72, is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Lebanon’s central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state.
No one at the German federal prosecution was immediately available to comment.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office said it was involved in the case but declined to comment on the arrest warrant. “We never comment on arrest warrants,” a spokesperson for the office told Reuters.
Salameh, who has been central bank governor for 30 years, is facing growing calls to resign ahead of his latest term ending in July.