The Salameh Papers: Special report into allegations against former Lebanon banking chiefA Lebanese prosecutor has hit new charges on Lebanon's embattled former Central Bank governor Riad Salameh over alleged financial crimes. Judge Raja Hamouche also indicted Samir Hanna, the former head of one of Lebanon's largest banks, Bank Audi.The charges relate “to the establishment of fictitious companies, the seizure of funds belonging to the [Central] Bank of Lebanon, and the use of these funds to buy shares and bonds from commercial banks in fraudulent ways, in addition to illicit enrichment, money laundering and bribery,” the charge sheet says.Judge Hamouche referred the case to the first investigating judge in Beirut, Rola Othman, and issued arrest warrants for both men.Reuters said the file includes accusations that Mr Hanna, 88, bribed Mr Salameh, 76, while he was central bank governor.It is the first time a commercial banker has been indicted in a financial crimes case related to Mr Salameh, suggesting that Lebanese investigations into the former governor are expanding to the private sector.For Mr Salameh, who spent three decades at the helm of the central bank, it adds yet another charge to his long rap sheet.He is already under detention at the Dahr El Bechak government hospital, where he was moved from the notorious Roumieh prison last week.His family and legal team have repeatedly claimed his health has deteriorated, something that the Lebanese judiciary has denied. Sources have said he has a blood pressure problem that is under control, but last week he refused to undergo a medical examination at the Dahr El Bechak hospital, including an electrocardiogram and respiratory tests.He was arrested two weeks ago at Bhannes Hospital, north of the capital Beirut, after failing to appear before a judge for questioning a day earlier. His family has asked that he be moved back to Bhannes Hospital.In January, ‌Lebanon's current central bank governor ⁠and Mr Salameh's successor, Karim Souaid, told reporters that the central ​bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of ​the central bank, ‌a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds. He said the operations were carried out through four offshore shell companies that he did not name, located in the ⁠Cayman Islands.For decades, Mr Salameh was one of the country’s most influential people and had even been touted as a potential presidential candidate. However, his arrest in September 2024 for embezzling public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment and money laundering revealed a side to a man who was once lauded as the guardian of the country's financial sector.He has become a figure of ridicule and hate in Lebanon following a 2019 economic crisis, the effects of which reverberate today. That crisis was blamed on decades of financial mismanagement and corruption among the Lebanese elite, including Mr Salameh. The crisis saw the local currency plummet in value by more than 95 per cent on the parallel dollar market, while informal capital controls implemented by the banks meant vast numbers of depositors were locked out of their savings – a situation that continues.