$ 16 million Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri should have referred to a South African model. The "New York Times" reports on the basis of court documents available to the newspaper. The model, Candice van der Merwe, had to disclose where the millions suddenly came from. According to the documents, she had previously generated an annual income of up to $ 5,400 by advertising energy drinks and calendar photos in swimwear.
The transfer of the money is unlawful neither in Lebanon nor in South Africa, however, the revelation for Hariri comes at an inopportune time: the highly indebted Lebanon threatens a national bankruptcy. Just last month, the Prime Minister announced that he was calling for an "economic emergency" and saying good-bye austerity measures. Already there Hariri expected protests from the population.
Now, the anger of the citizens on the austerity program could turn out even more violent. Lebanon is one of the countries with the highest social inequality in the world. More and more Lebanese are living in poverty - currently almost a third of the population. At the same time there are a few billionaires like Hariri, whose fortune was last estimated at $ 1.5 billion.
Model van der Merwe claimed to have met Hariri in the Seychelles. As a 19-year-old, she started working there in 2012 in an exclusive resort, the Plantation Club. In her affidavit, she stated that the facility was being visited by "some of the richest individuals in the world." "It's a kind of playground for the super-rich, where they can relax in complete privacy." To do so, models would be flown in from agencies around the world "to give the resort glamor and exclusivity."
Gift of an "extremely rich gentleman from the Middle East"
She fell in love with the Plantation Club in Hariri, Van der Merwe said in court. In 2013 she wrote to the Lebanese entrepreneur, who has been active in politics for years, in an e-mail "I love you, my Saad", to which she gave her account details. A little later, $ 15,299,965 went into her account from a Lebanese bank. She bought more than $ 10 million worth of houses and gave her father's real estate company a loan of $ 2.7 million. But then South Africa's tax authority intervened.
As a gift, without consideration, the transfer in South Africa would be tax-free. The model insists. Van der Merwes lawyers said the money was the gift of an "extremely rich gentleman from the Middle East." But the tax authority considered this unlikely. The financial investigators suspected that consideration had been paid for the money or it was actually intended for the real estate company of van der Merwes father. The authorities demanded a late payment of taxes and had the young woman's assets temporarily frozen. As a result, Hariri once again transferred her one million dollars to pay for her living expenses and the lawsuit.
YouTube: Candice van der Merwe shooting the "FFM" calendar:
Hariri was not yet Lebanese prime minister at the time - he was in office between 2009 and 2011 and resumed government position in 2016. When he allegedly met van der Merwe, he was head of the then Sunni opposition party, married father of three, and a senior executive at various companies, including Saudi Oger, the real estate company of the Hariri family. His father, who murdered Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005, had taken over the company and built it into a billion-dollar empire, thanks to works by the Saudi royal family.
The US government is putting increasing pressure
But between the Hariris and the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman it broke 2017. Saudi ogre had to be closed. Since then, Hariri has apparently been saving: on September 18, he announced his "heavy heartedness" to close his television station in Lebanon. His media was considered a political counterweight to the Lebanese Hezbollah, with which Hariri is currently leading a coalition government.
However, the US government is putting increasing pressure on the PM to distance itself from the Shiite militia. The US classifies the allied with Iran group as a terrorist organization.
Surprisingly, the Hezbollah-related media in Lebanon have barely responded to the revelation of Hariri's Gift. However, one newspaper speculated that the New York Times report was politically motivated to force Hariri to resign and end his coalition government.
In South Africa, van der Merwe and the tax authority agreed on a compromise in 2016. However, the model apparently did not want to stick to it any longer: In January this year, she sued South Africa for damages - the name of the "extremely rich gentleman from the Middle East" became public in court. In her lawsuit, van der Merwe argued that the authorities' investigation had destroyed her career and disrupted her relationship with Hariri.
"The applicant's relationship with Mr. Hariri was terminated, resulting in the loss of financial benefits that would have accrued to her if the relationship could have continued without outside interference," the complaint said. The model's lawyers demanded $ 65 million.
The lawsuit was dismissed last month.