BEIRUT - A judge began interrogating Lebanon's detained former central bank governor Riad Salameh in Beirut on Monday, judicial sources said, the first hearing since he was held last week and charged with alleged financial crimes including embezzling public funds.

The judge questioning Salameh, who ran the central bank for three decades until July 2023, is expected to decide whether to keep him in detention or release him pending further questioning over alleged embezzlement, forgery and illicit enrichment.

If the prosecution continues, it would mark a rare case of a serving or retired senior Lebanese official facing accountability in a system which critics say has long shielded the elite.

Salameh was long feted as a financial wizard in Lebanon but left office with his reputation shredded by corruption charges at home and abroad and the catastrophic collapse of Lebanon's financial system in 2019.

Salameh's media office has said he will not comment publicly on the case, in line with the law. It said in a statement he had cooperated in the past with more than 20 criminal probes in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and was cooperating with the investigation after his detention.

Salameh has denied previous corruption charges.

  - Reuters