BEIRUT: Financier Salah Ezzedine has refused to declare bankruptcy, saying he was only going through a “staggering” financial crisis. The disgraced financier, whose case has made worldwide news because of his connections to Hizbullah, told an investigating magistrate that he had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investments and deposits abroad. These, he claimed, could possibly generate profits next year to pay off at least some of his investors. Ezzedine continued to deny all charges pressed against him, including fraud and embezzlement, adding that he had no knowledge of the value of the total amount of his assets in Lebanon and overseas. His remarks came during a lengthy interrogation on Thursday of Ezzedine and his business partner Youssef Faour. Meanwhile, press reports said the number of lawsuits filed against Ezzedine for financial damages rose to 16. – The Daily Star

In the footsteps of financier Salah Ezzedine, a Lebanese man living in Abidjan has received $15 million from Lebanese businessmen, telling them he would transfer their money to Lebanon.
The daily An-Nahar, which carried the report, said Friday the man, identified as H.N. from the southern Lebanese town of Taibeh, took the money and disappeared.

It said the suspect was said to have headed toward Morocco and that his wife had been arrested.

Lebanon has formally charged prominent Shiite businessman Salah Ezzedine with fraudulent embezzlement, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Ezzedine, who has close links with Hizbullah, is suspected of depriving investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.

He turned himself in to authorities last month after declaring bankruptcy and has since been held in custody.

Ezzedine is suspected of creating a phony embezzlement scheme that promised investors returns of up to 40 percent a year. His case has drawn comparisons in Lebanon with that of Bernard Madoff.

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.

Five others have also been charged with involvement in the case, but are on the run, a court official said.

Ezzedine and Faour have been referred to an investigating magistrate for further investigation before a date is set for their trial.

Ezzedine, a wealthy tycoon from the village of Maaroub near the southern port city of Tyre, is a prominent financier, particularly among Shiite circles in Lebanon.

He is the owner of Dar al-Hadi Publishing House, which has published religious Shiite books, including books by Hizbullah officials.

The allegations have tarnished a reputation Ezzedine had as a devout man involved in charity work. He headed an institution that organized pilgrimage trips to Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Recent media reports in Lebanon have said that Hizbullah has had business dealings with Ezzedine, somewhat shaking the Shiite group’s image as an austere resistance movement. Hizbullah, however, has denied any involvement in Ezzedine’s business dealings.

Many Muslims consider interest paid by banks as un-Islamic and therefore prefer to invest their money in businesses such as the ones run by Ezzeddine.(AP photo shows a man checking books at Dar al-Hadi.)

A shroud of mystery surrounding the bankruptcy of a top Lebanese financier was growing as his list of alleged victims, mainly Muslim Shiites, also does.

Salah Ezzedine, a Shiite from southern Lebanon in his 50s who has been dubbed the “Bernard Madoff” of his country, was arrested earlier this week when he filed for bankruptcy.
Reports surfaced that he had squandered more than 1.5 billion dollars (1.05 billion euros) of his clients’ money.

Mohammed al-Duheini, mayor of the southern town of Toura, said that “around 250 residents from my town placed their money in the hands of Salah Ezzedine, and he would give them interest rates that topped 25 percent.

“He managed to win the trust of the Shiites of south Lebanon and handled a lot of their money,” he told AFP.

Local papers have reported that Ezzedine offered interest rates as high as 60 percent and that part of his clientele was from the oil-rich Gulf.

But prosecutor Saeed Mirza said there were no official figures as yet on Ezzedine’s finances, and that the bankruptcy claim had yet to be verified.

“We are still gathering information,” he told AFP.

While Ezzedine’s own political beliefs are unclear, most of his clients were supporters of Hizbullah, Duheini says.

Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan was among the first to file a complaint against Ezzedine over a bounced check, according to the local media.

“What people heard about him was that he is protected by Hizbullah and is an honest man who runs charities,” Duheini said.

“They looked to him as the savior of the south and its people, as the protector of the Shiites’ finances.”

Under Lebanon’s banking secrecy law, banks cannot reveal their clients’ names, assets or holdings except in cases of bankruptcy or if granted written authorization by the client.

Lebanese authorities have closed down Dar al-Hadi Publishing House which was owned by Ezzedine.

Dar al-Hadi was one of Lebanon’s prominent publishing houses of religious Shiite books in Beirut’s southern suburbs.(AFP-Naharnet)(AP photo shows a man checking books at Dar Al-Hadi.)

BEIRUT: Hizbullah in association with the Telecommunications Ministry helped locate bankrupt businessman Salah Ezzedine in his hideout in the Beirut southern suburbs, well-informed judicial sources told The Central News Agency (CNA) on Friday. According to the judicial sources quoted by the CNA, Hizbullah carried out “a quick raid” of his hideout, “questioned him and later handed him to judicial authorities.

Earlier reports had mentioned that Ezzedine gave himself up to authorities.

The sources added that one of Ezzedine’s associates, a businessman only identified as “Youssef F” had been recently arrested by the judiciary.

Ezzedine, a wealthy businessman from the town of Maaroub near the southern port city of Tyre, is a prominent financier particularly among Shiite circles in Lebanon. He is the owner of Dar Al-Hadi Publishing House – one of Lebanon’s most prominent publishers of religious Shiite books that also prints books written by Hizbullah officials – and Al-Hadi TV for children.

As-Safir newspaper reported on that Ezzedine’s publishing house Dar al-Hadi was shut down on Thursday based on a court order to close down some of Ezzedine’s enterprises. More than 250 employees lost their jobs overnight as a result of the court’s decision.

The judicial officials said Ezzedine had major business interests, particularly in oil and iron industries, in Eastern Europe and suffered substantial losses when oil prices dropped starting mid last year.

He tried to make up for his losses by taking money from Le­banese investors, promising up to 40 percent interest which he could not repay, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Many Muslims consider interest paid by banks as un-Islamic and therefore prefer to invest their money in businesses such as the ones run by Ezzeddine.

Media reports said that those who invested with Ezzedine includd high-ranking members of Hizbullah, as well as Shiite investors
from south Lebanon and the Hizbullah stronghold south of Beirut.

Former Hizbullah MP Amin Sherry denied any links to Ezzedine in a statement re­leased on Friday.

Earlier Friday, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel had reported that Sherry, along with the head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad and the party’s politburo member Wafiq Safa, were among those who invested their money with Ezzedine.

As-Safir newspaper also interviewed a relative of Ezzedine who inistsed that his kin was not the only person implicated in the bankruptcy case. “He is one of five associates,” he said, adding that one of them had fled the country.

Judicial sources told the CNA that one of Ezzedine’s relatives “stands behind or knows the true reasons behind the bankruptcy.”

The bankruptcy case made headlines earlier this week as Ezzedine gave himself up to authorities after declaring himself bankrupt. The officials said he was then taken into custody and was investigated for possible crimes including “the fraud of large amounts of money.” – The Daily Star