HSBC Charged in French Probe Into Embezzled Lebanese Funds

(Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss unit was charged in Paris as part of an investigation into suspicions it helped a former Lebanese central bank Governor embezzle funds, according to French financial prosecutors.

The bank faces charges in France of money laundering by an organized group and conspiracy to commit offenses such as embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust or bribery of a public official. Le Monde reported the news earlier. HSBC didn’t immediately comment.

Since 2020, Swiss prosecutors have also been investigating the case surrounding the ex-governer, Riad Salameh, who was charged by Lebanese prosecutors with embezzling public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment and money laundering. Salameh was head of Lebanon’s central bank for three decades before stepping down.

He’s been sanctioned by both the US and the UK, with the US Treasury Department accusing him of abusing his position of power to enrich himself and his associates. Salameh has repeatedly denied allegations against him and has said that his fortune was amassed during his previous career in finance.

Salameh, who was a private banker at Merrill Lynch before becoming governor in 1993, played a key role in maintaining Lebanon’s currency peg for over two decades before it unraveled in late 2019. Since protests erupted in October 2019 against a political class accused of stripping state coffers, he increasingly became a target of the popular anger.

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