Lebanon ex-central bank governor Riad Salameh transferred to jail after hospital stay

Former Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh, 76, was moved from a hospital to a prison cell after a judge ordered his custody. Salameh had been placed under police guard in the hospital after falling ill while en route to a court hearing on embezzlement, illicit enrichment and money‑laundering charges filed by the new central bank governor Karim Soueid.

The judiciary had previously directed security forces to locate Salameh when he failed to appear at the hospital emergency department or at his registered addresses. After he was found at a hospital outside Beirut, authorities reinforced security measures in the wing where he was staying and formally considered him "in custody." Salameh, who led the central bank from 1993 to July 2023, denies wrongdoing and claims he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon’s economic collapse that began in 2019.