Lebanon could claim up to $1 billion in damages through foreign courts in relation to the country’s largest financial scandal, known as the Forry case, in which hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds were allegedly embezzled and invested in real estate abroad, a former Lebanese prosecutor has told The National.

The compensation could include $330 million allegedly misappropriated from Lebanon's central bank since 2002 by its disgraced former governor Riad Salameh, as well as interest accrued over more than two decades, former judge Jean Tannous said.

The funds could offer some relief for the cash-strapped country, which has been grappling with a crippling economic crisis for over five years, with its political and financial elite showing little willingness to reform a paralysed banking sector or address financial losses estimated at $70 billion.

“This would require the state to intervene actively in foreign proceedings, prove the public origin of the funds, and assert its rights under international asset recovery mechanisms,” Tannous said.

The Forry case, named after a shell company owned by the former central bank governor’s brother that was allegedly used to embezzle funds, is the subject of investigation by several European countries, including France, Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland.

In Lebanon, Tannous led a high-stakes investigation spanning 18 months into the former central bank governor and his entourage, facing consistent political interference. He resigned from the judiciary in 2022.

In a rare interview, Tannous outlined lessons to be learnt from Lebanon’s biggest money laundering scandal, which stretched from the coffers of the central bank to luxury real estate in Europe and the US.

Salameh, who is currently detained in Beirut over a separate embezzlement scandal, was once seen as the linchpin of Lebanon’s financial sector. He is now widely blamed for the country’s economic collapse, as the architect of a national-scale Ponzi scheme that collapsed in 2019.

Salameh, and his brother, who is alleged to have assisted him in setting up a slush fund at the Banque du Liban, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Asset recovery

Tannous said Lebanon is yet to take decisive steps to recover assets abroad allegedly bought with public funds.

While the Lebanese state is legally recognised as a victim in the Forry case, any recovery of the misappropriated funds from abroad is not guaranteed, even in the event of a conviction.

Lebanon has joined some foreign proceedings, including in France and Switzerland, as a civil party – a move that paves the way for asset recovery. But Tannous said the state has failed to appoint legal representation for the Lebanese state in Switzerland, which “can limit the impact” of court decisions.

Lebanon has also filed a complaint against HSBC in Switzerland, accusing the bank in its first legal action against a foreign lender of ignoring red flags and enabling the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in suspected embezzled funds from the central bank.

HSBC is among several international banks where the Salameh brothers held accounts allegedly used to move public funds out of Lebanon.

“Lebanon must broaden its local criminal investigations to include all foreign financial institutions potentially involved – not just in Switzerland, but also in France, Luxembourg, Germany, the UK, and the United States,” Tannous said.

“Without that, even the most clear-cut embezzlement risks ending in impunity and unrecovered losses.”

'No lessons' learnt

Setting up an international money laundering scheme is not a one-person job. The Forry scandal has exposed fault across the board – from international banks and audit firms to the central bank itself.

“Any potential criminal activity at BDL inevitably points to a network of internal complicities,” Tannous said.

“Years of unchecked authority concentrated in the person of the governor, combined with paralysed internal governing bodies, particularly the central board. Legal and compliance departments were reduced to bureaucratic formalities, and internal controls failed to assert any real authority.”

Salameh’s unchecked authority and the central bank’s weak internal governance, which were glossed over as long as Lebanon’s financial system appeared stable and dollars kept flowing, were sharply criticised in a 2023 forensic audit.

Karim Souaid, the new central bank governor who took office in March, has pledged to combat money laundering and terror financing.

“These intentions must quickly translate into tangible reforms, including the reactivation of internal governance structures such as the central board, compliance, and audit units with full authority,” Tannous said.

“Most critically, the long-standing system of political interference, which allowed the placement of relatives and affiliates of political figures in key positions, must be dismantled through strict conflict-of-interest rules, merit-based hiring, and institutional transparency,” he added.