The employees of Lebanon’s central bank have begun a three-day strike in response to an effort to arrest the bank’s governor by a prosecution judge.
Judge Ghada Aoun, who on Tuesday authorized a judicial raid at the Lebanon Central Bank headquarters in Beirut, has repeatedly attempted to arrest Riad Salameh, Lebanon’s former central bank governor, and has openly accused the country’s politicians of shielding him from punishment.
Nonetheless, Salameh maintained the allegiance of his staff, who began their strike on Wednesday in protest of the judge’s “militia” actions.
Salameh is being probed for alleged money laundering and unlawful enrichment in Lebanon and five European nations.
In Europe, authorities have froze assets worth more than 100 million euros belonging to Salameh and a small group of friends while they examine the apparent transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Lebanon’s central bank to a brokerage firm registered to Salameh’s brother.
Aoun has accused Salameh of manipulating the budget of the central bank of Lebanon to conceal losses.
