No illicit funds

Salameh disputes claims of money laundering for Damascus and Tehran

The governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, has once again rebuffed claims about money laundering in Lebanese banks, at home and abroad. In remarks he made in response to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Salameh denied that Syrian nationals were smuggling money to Lebanon.

The report had stated that Washington “is intensifying its scrutiny of Lebanon's financial system over concerns that Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah are using local banks to evade international sanctions and fund their activities."

Salameh had, however, told the newspaper that deposits by Syrian nationals as well as loans to Syrians have dropped by 40 percent over the past 15 months.

The newspaper quoted US officials saying that the US Treasury Department “is pressing Lebanese financial regulators to more closely monitor local banks that have operations in Syria and Iran.”