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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Lebanons Madoff charged with embezzelment | |
| 2009-09-14 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Business tycoon Salah Ezzedine, dubbed Lebanon's "Bernard Madoff" by local media over allegations he squandered more than one billion dollars of his clients' money, has been charged with embezzlement and fraud, state media reported Sunday. Ezzedine's business partner, Yussef Faour, the deputy mayor of the southern village of Maaroub, was charged with the same offences on Saturday, the official National News Agency reported.
Ezzedine turned himself in earlier this month after filing for bankruptcy. Faour was arrested days afterwards. Five others were also charged but are reportedly on the run. Ezzedine is charged with creating a phony embezzlement scheme --- which officials have referred to as a Ponzi scheme -- that promised returns of up to 40 percent a year, prompting comparisons with Bernard Madoff. Ezzedine could face up to up to 15 years in prison Acting financial prosecutor Fawzi Adham charged Ezzedine and a partner, Youssef Faour, with fraudulent embezzlement, issuing bad checks and violating the Lebanese monetary and loan laws. Ezzedine reportedly handled the investments of thousands of clients from Lebanon's Shiite community, many of whom eschew traditional banks that charge interest, which is forbidden in Islam. "He managed to win the trust of the Shiites of south Lebanon and handled a lot of their money," Toura mayor Mohammed al-Duheini told AFP earlier this month. The Shiite Muslim from outside the southern city of Tyre is also the owner of Dar al-Hadi Publishing House, which has published books by senior Hezbollah officials, in the southern Beirut suburbs. Authorities have shut down the store, named after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's late son Hadi. Born in 1962, the financier first went into business organizing pilgrimages to the Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia. While Ezzedine's own political beliefs remain unclear, Beirut newspapers have reported that many of his clients were members of Hezbollah. Nasrallah denied that Ezzedine had any ties to the party in a speech earlier this month, but reports say Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan has filed a complaint over a bounced check signed by Ezzedine. | |
| Posted by:Fred |