226 Cases of Money Laundering in 2008

Lebanon - Thursday, April 2, 2009

The special committee for investigating money laundering attached to Lebanon's Central Bank mentioned in its 8th annual report for the year 2008 that it had received 226 cases for investigation: 156 cases referred by local parties and 70 by external parties. The types of illegal activities were: 77 cases related to transferring money across borders; 37 cases of forgery; 14 cases of terrorism and terrorism financing; 11 cases of embezzling private funds; 6 cases of drug trafficking; 5 cases of embezzling public funds; 2 organized crimes and 74 undefined cases. The Central Bank Governor, Mr. Riyad Salameh, pointing out the approval of the UN anti-corruption agreement by the Lebanese parliament, said that the parliament passed law No. 32 that expands the jurisdiction of the special investigation committee to cover lifting bank accounts secrecy and freezing the accounts of persons suspected of engagement in corruption operations.
Source: Al-Hayat