"Ill-gotten gains": investigation in France against Najib Mikati, former Lebanese Prime Minister
The investigation, reported on Sunday by the Lebanese daily "L'Orient-le Jour," comes after a complaint filed in April 2024 by the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon (CVPFCL) and the anti-corruption association Sherpa, according to William Bourdon.
On Sunday, Najib Mikati's communications department stated that "it had not been notified." When filing the complaint, Najib Mikati had assured that he had "always acted in strict compliance with the law," as had his family members. "The origin of our family heritage is entirely transparent, legitimate, and in accordance with the law," insisted the man who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon on several occasions, until early 2025.
Dubious fortuneThe associations accuse Najib Mikati, 69, and his relatives, including his brother Taha Mikati, of having acquired various assets in France and abroad through multiple structures, including offshore schemes. They allegedly amassed a fortune fraudulently, particularly in defiance of the tax authorities.
Their complaint concerned the offenses of money laundering and receiving stolen goods or complicity, criminal association, all committed as part of an organized gang, an aggravating circumstance. It was supplemented by new evidence in April 2025.
This investigation "may reduce the power to cause harm to those who seek at all costs to undermine the ongoing process to end the predation of private interests on the State and the public interest of the Lebanese," said lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengharth.
Najib Mikati, who made his fortune in telecommunications, and his brother Taha are presented by the plaintiffs as being among the richest people in Lebanon, owners of yachts, private jets, and even buildings on the French Riviera. Several of the Mikati brothers' children are also targeted as potential receivers of the allegedly laundered money.
SudOuest
