Lebanon prime minister cleared after Monaco corruption probe

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Monaco has ended its investigation into Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and family members over allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering and cleared them of wrongdoing. 

Najib Mikati, a billionaire and one of Lebanon’s richest men, was informed by Monaco’s deputy attorney-general Morgan Raymond that the probe into him, his brother Taha Mikati and son Maher that was opened three years ago had been closed because of insufficient evidence, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times. 

“This development confirms that the spurious allegations and accompanying speculation were unfounded,” Mikati’s office said in a statement to the Financial Times. Raymond confirmed the details of the letter to the FT.

Scrutiny at home and abroad of Lebanon’s ruling elite over allegations of corruption has burgeoned since the start of the country’s devastating financial collapse in 2019.

Many blame the political establishment for leading the country down the path to ruin. Lebanon routinely figures at the bottom of Transparency International’s corruption index — it is currently 150th out of 180 countries ranked. 

Much of that scrutiny has focused on former central bank chief Riad Salameh, who governed the Banque du Liban for 30 years before retiring last month. Authorities in at least nine countries are investigating Salameh over allegations of financial crimes. He denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Sources close to the European investigations against Salameh have told the FT that ties between Mikati and Salameh had been investigated in several countries, including Monaco and Liechtenstein.

Monaco had requested mutual legal assistance from Lebanon in January last year for help probing allegations of money laundering, according to a letter seen by the FT. Sources close to the investigation said the case was linked to a subsidised loan scheme.

A Lebanese judge opened an investigation into the scheme in 2019, after media reports emerged that suggested public figures and politicians had fraudulently benefited from central-bank subsidised loans. Mikati, several relatives and Lebanon’s Bank Audi were probed before the case was dismissed last year.

An investigating judge in Liechtenstein had previously probed money transfers between companies owned by Salameh and Taha Mikati, according to a 2022 letter seen by the FT that was sent by Liechtenstein to Lebanese authorities. 

The transfers, worth about $14mn, were related to a 2016 agreement between M1 group, a Lebanese holding company founded by Najib and Taha Mikati, and SI 2 SA, a Swiss company owned by Salameh and under investigation over money laundering allegations. Mikati’s office denied any agreement ever existed. 

Mikati’s statement said Liechtenstein authorities had confirmed that “there are no pending investigations against the Mikati family” there. A source close to Mikati said the family did not believe they had ever been under investigation in Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein’s judiciary did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

“With a Lebanese case also recently dropped, there are no ongoing investigations, queries, or indictments against any of the Mikati family in any jurisdiction,” the statement from Mikati’s office said. The statement added that the investigations “were triggered by false and politically motivated smears”.