Bikini model scandal amid economic crisis threatens Lebanese PM
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Lebanese Prime Minster Saad Hariri made the private payments totalling some €14.6 million prior to his current term of office, according to a New York Times report based on court documents the paper has seen.
A tax case forced the model, Candice van de Merwe, to disclose the payments Hariri made to her from his private wealth in 2013, after his first term from 2009-2011 and before returning to leadership in 2016.
The pair reportedly met while on holiday in the Seychelles. It was not immediately clear why Hariri, the billionaire son and scion of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, made the payments. Van de Merwe had insisted to tax authorities she was not required to pay taxes on the amount because it was a gift.
The transfers were not illegal, but the revelation comes as Lebanon stares down national bankruptcy, protesters rail against austerity and Hariri’s own business empire struggles.
Forbes valued Hariri’s wealth at US$1.5 billion last year, but his family’s construction conglomerate, Saudi Oger, reportedly folded in 2017 leaving wages unpaid, while workers at his Future TV network were striking for months over salaries owed before it temporarily closed in September.
