LEBANONESQUE

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Friday, May 12, 2006

Who is Imad Lahoud? (UPDATE)

No, no. Not al-Imad Emile Lahoud (General Lahoud, pathetic president of the republic), but a certain Imad (first name), Lahoud.

Well, well. Imad is somehow implicated in the Villepin-Chirac-Clearstream scandal rocking France right now.

He is supposed to be related to President Emile Lahoud (Liberation), though the presidency denies it (Emile has a Imad relative, but not this guy, stay tuned).

Just stumbled on the story and the two links below. Seems Imad's father was an officer in the Lebanese army. Imad was a trader in Paris and involved in some financial fraud shenanigans. And, big bonus and surprise, he also worked/collaborated for a while with French intelligence.

What is true? What is rumor? I don't know, but sure would be interesting to find out. Any of you readers know anything about this character? Or went to school with him? Please post info.

LINKS:

Wikipedia: Imad Lahoud

Fausta's Blog

"Who is Imad Lahoud?" An-Nahar (Arabic, via tayyar.org)


UPDATE: Added the Nahar link above. Thanks to all commenters below. Many interesting connections, though not to President Lahoud (by blood or otherwise, so far):

Early Arab money and funds (previous scandal), the list of accounts (Clearstream, bogus?), Imad Lahoud's wife is a high-rank civil servant working until recently in the office of the French foreign minister, brother Marwan heads French arms-tech manufacturer etc.

The French press and judiciary should (??) be shedding light on these aspects.

It may be totally unimportant but I am still curious about Imad Lahoud's father? Some dates seem odd to me (see below).

Wikipedia and the French press say: Imad's father was an officer in the Lebanese army, who worked with French intelligence to set up Lebanese/Syrian security services during/after the French mandate.

Ms. Levantine below says Imad is related to Victor Khoury (head of the Leb. army 1977-82). Unless there's a quirk in the story (adoption or such), Khoury is not Imad Lahoud's father and his father is a Lahoud.

The Nahar article, in typical incompetent fashion, does not bother telling us who Imad's father is. Could it be Colonel Gaby Lahoud? Gen. Chehab's famous head of the Deuxieme Bureau (Maktab Tani, i.e. Lebanese intelligence) back in the 1960's. Possible but my guess is that the son does not quite fit the profile.

The curious thing is that Imad was born in 1966. Lebanese independence was in 1943.

If his father worked with French intelligence officer Pierre Rondot around that time, setting up a new service, the father must have had some seniority, in both age and rank. Say he was 30 years old in 1943, then he would have been 53 years old at the time of Imad's birth in 1966. It is possible but a tad remote. And if that work started well before independence the numbers get more unlikely.

Maybe it's a total dud (men can father in their 90s), but I am still curious to know who Imad's father was, and what was his role in the army.

posted by JoseyWales @ Friday, May 12, 2006  

9 Comments:

  • At 5/12/06, 3:00 PM, Blogger Ms Levantine said…

    I think Al-Imad Lahoud is right on this one: no relation to Imad Lahoud. The latter is from Amchit I think, not from the Metn. He is related to Gen. Victor Khoury who used to head the army in the late 70's.

    His brother (Marwan I think) is a very bright guy who is very high up in a french tech/armement cie.

    As for Imad, he was implicated in some type of financial scandal with his French father-in-law and went to jail for it. He seems to be a reasonnably bright guy, but the con-artist type.

     

  • At 5/12/06, 5:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I know Lahouds from Amchit, I'll ask them if imad is from Amchit or not. If it's the case, he's not related to Habil I because our dear president is from Baabdat.

     

  • At 5/13/06, 8:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I asked some freinds in Lebanon about Imad and they confirmed MS Levs' story.

     

  • At 5/13/06, 8:18 AM, Blogger the perpetual refugee said…

    Wow. I can never get over how much information can be retrieved in Lebanon from the 'day3a'.

    Next question: How much did he make last year and what did he eat for breakfast ;-)

     

  • At 5/13/06, 12:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    How come anytime there is some sort of a scandal in the world, a Lebanese is always involved? Kinda makes me proud, in a very guilty way. Imagine all that talent we have put positively though, wow, the sky is the limit!

     

  • At 5/14/06, 1:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Lahoud and Heilbronner are also involved in a hedge fund blow-up:
    François Heilbronner , l'ancien PDG du GAN , et son gendre sont soupçonnés par la justice d'avoir joué un rôle dans la déconfiture d'un fonds d'investissement qu'ils avaient créé. (AFP/ERIC FEFERBERG.)

    APRES 48 HEURES de garde à vue et une audition au pôle des juges financiers, François Heilbronner, ancien PDG du GAN et ancien directeur adjoint du cabinet de Jacques Chirac (1975-1976 et 1986) a été mis en examen pour « escroquerie en bande organisée avec appel public à l'épargne » par les juges Valérie Salmeron et Isabelle Prévost-Desprez. Son gendre, Imad Lahoud, lui aussi placé en garde à vue pendant deux jours, a été mis en examen pour « faux » et « complicité de faux ». François Heilbronner a été placé sous contrôle judiciaire, et une caution de 400 000 € lui a été réclamée, tandis que son gendre a été placé en détention provisoire. C'est la déconfiture d'un fonds d'investissement créé par ces deux hommes qui leur vaut aujourd'hui d'être soupçonnés par la justice.
    Des réponses évasives En 1997, François Heilbronner et son gendre s'associent et créent un fonds d'investissement, le Volter Fund Limited, immatriculé aux Iles Vierges britanniques. Ils démarchent ensuite une série de grandes banques ou de compagnies d'assurances et leur proposent d'investir dans ce fonds, en échange d'une intéressante rentabilité. La personnalité de François Heilbronner aidant - il a dirigé durant huit ans une grande compagnie d'assurances -, quelques poids lourds de la finance comme la banque Fortis ou la compagnie d'assurances AGF participent à l'opération. Mais lorsqu'elles commencent à demander des explications sur la façon dont leur capital est géré, elles obtiennent des réponses évasives ; et, au moment où elles souhaitent récupérer leur mise, François Heilbronner et Imad Lahoud sont dans l'impossibilité de rembourser. Au total, 42 millions de dollars se sont évaporés et quatre banques, flouées, ont décidé, il y a deux ans de déposer plainte et de prévenir la Commission des opérations de bourse (COB), le gendarme des marchés financiers. Le rapport de la COB, que le « Parisien »-« Aujourd'hui en France » a pu se procurer, fait état de « manoeuvres frauduleuses de nature à déterminer des investissements dans le Volter Fund ». Ce rapport a ensuite été transmis au parquet de Paris, et une instruction est toujours en cours.
    Pas une mauvaise affaire pour tout le monde Les juges vont maintenant chercher à savoir si les 42 millions de dollars du Volter Fund ont disparu du fait d'une mauvaise gestion ou s'ils ont plutôt été détournés. Quoi qu'il en soit, ce fond d'investissement n'a pas été une mauvaise affaire pour tout le monde, puisque HL Gestion, la société de François Heilbronner et d'Imad Lahoud, a perçu 1,3 million d'euros d'honoraires pour la gestion du Volter Fund. Mais les magistrats s'intéressent aussi aux conditions dans lesquelles des banques ont choisi d'investir dans le Volter Fund. Hier, la brigade financière a perquisitionné durant plusieurs heures au siège parisien de la banque NSM où étaient domiciliés les comptes du Volter Fund.

     

  • At 8/3/06, 5:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i am a close relative to Imad. What do you want to know?

     

  • At 8/7/06, 9:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Imad's lahoud father is victor lahoud born on the 16th of february 1939. he was 3 years old when the french mandate was over in lebanon. he was an officer in the army and he worked in the lebanese intelligence bureau during the seventies localised in the bekaa valley
    he resigned from the army after amin gemayel was elected president and moved all his 5 children to paris where he did not work because he was dying from a cancer. he died in paris and his last will was to be burried in paris. he is burried in the cemetry of boulogne billancourt. He died on the 3rd of july 1990. all his surroundings will tell you that he was a great man and raised his five children very well. Whatever you want to say about imad lahoud you cannot find any mistake in his father's life or behavior

     

  • At 9/25/09, 3:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It now appears that Imad Lahood was, at the time of the insertion of president Sarkozy's name in the Clearstream list, working with Francois Perol a very close advisor to then candidate N. Sarkozy.

    In fact, the trial has revealed from Lahood's expense acount reimbursement log that Imad Lahood met Francois Perol on as much as 17 occasions starting in February 2004. This coincides with the timeline of the Clearstream ordeal. Thus, Sarkozy had to be aware of the insertion of his name from a very early date, witch refutes his story of not knowing about his name being in the list.

    Further, it is common knowledge that Imad Lahood's wife, Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, was the head of cabinet of Eric Woerth, when he held a previous cabinet position. Eric Woerth now hold a minister cabinet post in President Sarkozy team.

    It interesting to notice that Imad Lahoud has very close relations to Sarkozy's close net entourage. As the web is being slowly untangled many now believe that it is within the reach of outcomes that Imad Lahoud actually was working on behalf of N. Sarkozy.

    What a tangled web we weave.....

     

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