<p>Lebanon (MNN) &#8212; Lebanon’s former central bank governor, Riad Salameh, was arrested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/09/lebanon-arrests-ex-central-bank-chief-riad-salameh-embezzlement-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this week</a></strong></span> in Beirut after a lengthy interrogation. Salameh is facing domestic and international charges for allegedly embezzling over 40 million dollars.</p>
<p>“Now, the sad part in this whole thing is that he’s not the only one,” <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.mnnonline.org/mission_groups/heart-for-lebanon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heart for Lebanon</a></strong></span>’s Camille Melki says.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>“This is not a one-man show; you have a full range of politicians, economists, bankers – people of influence – who were involved in this more than $110 billion scheme.”</strong></p>
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<p>Lebanon has faced severe economic downfall since <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.mnnonline.org/news/complexities-surround-lebanon-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 2019,</a></strong></span> with billions of dollars frozen in bank accounts. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.mnnonline.org/news/gospel-work-continues-despite-lebanon-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">That fall,</a></strong></span> people took to the streets en masse to protest government corruption.</p>
<div id="attachment_210224" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Riad_Salameh.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-210224" class="size-medium wp-image-210224" src="https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Riad_Salameh-300x269.png" alt="" width="300" height="269" srcset="https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Riad_Salameh-300x269.png 300w, https://www.mnnonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Riad_Salameh.png 377w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-210224" class="wp-caption-text">Riadh Salameh attending MTV Lebanon talk show in January 2020.<br />(Wikimedia Commons)</p></div>
<p>“We woke up on October 17, 2019, to the news that all the banks have frozen everyone’s assets because they have no means to pay Lebanon’s debt,” Melki explains.</p>
<p>“Every Lebanese who had $100 or $100,000 in the bank woke up having zero access to [their savings because] they (corrupt officials) sent our money to banks offshore and robbed the country of Lebanon of all its resources.”</p>
<p>As a result of widespread corruption, poverty has <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2024/05/23/lebanon-poverty-more-than-triples-over-the-last-decade-reaching-44-under-a-protracted-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than tripled</a></strong></span> in the past ten years, affecting nearly half of Lebanon’s population. <em><strong>Yet hope remains.</strong></em> “God has put us in a position to engage the world with a positive change,” Melki says.</p>
<p>“I see great hope in Lebanon if we continue to work diligently in raising a new generation of God-fearing, compassionate leaders that would replace the current leaders.”</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://heartforlebanon.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn how you can foster transformative change through Heart for Lebanon here.</a></strong></span></p>
<p>“We are focusing on raising people who have one mission: to live a Christ-like life in our country,” Melki says.</p>
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<p><em>Header image depicts 2019 mass protests against government corruption in Beirut. Since October 2019, Lebanon has faced severe economic downfall, with billions of dollars frozen in bank accounts. (Photo courtesy of <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019_Lebanese_protests_-_Antelias_1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shahen Books/CC4.0</a>)</em></p>

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