The French arrest warrant against the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, pushed the financial-judicial title to the fore, without providing the repercussions of this prominent development, the presidential election, based on the interdependence between the investigation of corruption files carried out by the European judiciary, as political circles kept pace. She noticed a hidden correlation between the French role in Lebanon and the American position on it, and considered that “Paris has responded to Washington’s entry into the presidential line of merit, first through a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that winked at President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative channel, supporting the candidacy of the head of the” Marada” movement. Suleiman Franjieh, and secondly, through the sanctions against the Rahma brothers, with the political dimensions the decision carries, whether in terms of timing or in terms of the direct message to the team supporting Franjieh’s candidacy, and with him Paris.
On this basis, the circles read, in the judicial decision against Salameh, a chapter of the concealed confrontation in Lebanon, in the context of the French entry into the governance site in which Washington has the final word.
These circles told the “Lebanese Debate” that President Macron did not neglect to announce during his recent visit to China that France “does not follow the United States,” and is moving on the regional as well as African arenas, contrary to American interests and directions. She added, however, stressing that the French insistence on confronting “corruption and waste” in Lebanon is selective, although Salameh is responsible, and not alone, for the financial reality in Lebanon.
Consequently, the circles consider that the political authority and successive governments bear responsibility for the financial collapse and the fall of the banking system, but they seek, through the adoption of a policy of silence and denial, to throw this responsibility on the ruler by turning him into a “scapegoat”, and diluting the fact that this authority was wasted. For a hundred billion dollars of public money and depositors’ money.
Regarding the nature of the American response to the French arrest warrant against Salameh, the same circles expect it to come at the level of the aforementioned procedure, considering that the initial repercussions may affect the presidential elections first, and the appointment of a new governor for the Central Committee second, and the option of renewal for Salameh, even if it is excluded third.
