Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“For months, Lebanon has been in the news mostly for the artillery fire across the border between the country’s militant group Hezbollah and Israel. On Tuesday, a different kind of headline caught global attention, bringing light to Lebanon’s dark circumstances. Prosecutors arrested the Mediterranean country’s former chief central banker, Riad Salameh, for alleged embezzlement. The move led the Beirut-based newspaper L’Orient Today to ask whether it signaled ‘the end of impunity in Lebanon.’ Even asking the question is a milestone. Lebanon has been caught in a prolonged political and economic crisis orchestrated, the World Bank has noted, ‘by the country’s elite that has long captured the state and lived off its [economy].’ Yet when governments falter to such a degree, a single act of accountability can mark a turning point.” (09/04/24)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/0904/Lifting-Lebanon-with-one-arrest