Days ago, French investigating Judge Aude Buresi directed accusations towards Marianne Howayek, the executive assistant to the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, charging her with forming a criminal gang and money laundering within an organized gang framework.
Buresi placed Howayek under judicial supervision, prohibiting her from communicating with the Central Bank of Lebanon or working there. She also ordered Howayek to provide a financial guarantee of 1.5 million euros before proceeding to freeze her assets and properties in France on Tuesday. These charges resulted from investigations conducted by the French judge last April. They were primarily based on Howayek's testimony, which included inconsistencies and her inability to prove the source of her funds.
This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar. "Al-Akhbar" newspaper obtained the record of the session in which the French investigating judge heard the former executive director of the Central Bank's Governor on April 27, 2023, according to Howayek's professional background.
Howayek's testimony, without a doubt, reveals that Salameh approached his position at the central bank with a mentality driven by greed and willing to exploit it in any way possible. This included distributing privileges, bribes, and easy loans to political figures in exchange for protection, as well as the creation of circulars and programs to justify money disbursements.
Additionally, Salameh exploited others, including Howayek, as fronts to embezzle bank funds, carry out transfers, and own companies in exchange for meager amounts in the millions of dollars, allowing them to serve as cover-ups for his actions.
During the hearing, the former executive director of the Governor's office on April 27, 2023, according to Howayek's professional background, spoke about her "excellence" in banking studies at the Lebanese American University (LAU), which opened the doors of the Central Bank of Lebanon for her despite her lack of prior work experience.
During her training period, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh was impressed by the new trainee's "dynamism," allowing her to move between different departments to assess their situations and potential for reorganization. Thus, Howayek was employed by the bank and embarked on a 13-year journey of "hard work" and rapid promotions, both administratively and financially, until she decided to put herself on an unpaid leave of absence in 2018. She returned in 2020 as an unpaid advisor to the Governor, aiming to find a solution to the financial crisis, considering it a form of "voluntary work." She lived off her savings and her family's money during this time.
From here, Judge Buresi began unraveling the trail of funds in Howayek's accounts in Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Monaco, revealing during the session that the source of these $5 million was not her father's, as she claimed, but the Central Bank of Lebanon or, more precisely, its Governor.
Marianne was nothing more than a front used by the Governor to embezzle public and private funds and launder them abroad through several companies in European banks. Marianne did not volunteer for this task but received apartments, money, and influence within the Central Bank of Lebanon that no recent graduate with the same degree and from the same college could dream of.
However, Howayek's allegations about her father's wealth led the French judge to question her about the reason for studying in Lebanon rather than abroad, to which she replied that she had intended to do so but changed her mind when she felt that her professional career was flourishing in Beirut. This "success" was translated into her ownership of an apartment in Paris worth 1.6 million euros, an apartment in Beirut worth $700,000, and an apartment in Rabieh worth $1 million. She also confirmed that she had €5.7 million in her account, which was "all she possessed" thanks to her job as the executive director of the Governor's office, with a salary that started at around three to four million Lebanese lira and reached 18 million between 2007 and 2018.
Therefore, Howayek failed to comprehend "the injustice she had been subjected to," stating that she is not Riad Salameh and does not hold his position or responsibilities. She does not know why the media portrayed her as such. She believes that her success led to her being in the spotlight, especially with local and international honors and recognition from the World Bank in one of its reports, a recognition that the Governor did not receive.