Judge Aoun Slaps Travel Bans on Chairmen of 5 Lebanese Banks

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Thursday issued travel bans against the chairmen of five Lebanese banks in connection with a financial corruption complaint, the state-run National News Agency said.

NNA identified the five chairmen as Salim Sfeir of Bank of Beirut, Samir Hanna of Bank Audi, Antoine Sehnaoui of SGBL, Saad al-Azhari of BLOM Bank and Rayya al-Hassan of BankMed.

Aoun had interrogated several chairmen of banks in recent weeks over the complaint, which is filed by an activist group called the People Want to Reform the Regime.

The complaint targets the chairmen of all Lebanese banks in connection with a lawsuit alleging that the central bank had transferred $8 billion to seven banks to pay to depositors abroad, and that the banks paid only $1 billion and kept the remaining $7 billion in their coffers.

The lawsuit also targets Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and six central bank officials.