The Baabda Justice Palace. (Credit: Ahmad al-Kerdi/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Raja Salameh, detained since March 17 in connection with an illicit enrichment probe, has applied to the lead investigating judge at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Nicolas Mansour, for his release, Salameh’s lawyer Marwan Issa El-Khoury confirmed to L'Orient Today on Monday. Raja Salameh is the younger brother of Banque du Liban chief Riad Salameh, who is the subject of investigations into financial wrongdoing in multiple jurisdictions.
Here’s what we know:
• Mansour reportedly referred Raja Salameh’s request to Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun for an opinion. According to the law, this opinion is not binding and the judge may not comply with it. Aoun can either accept or reject the request for release or let Mansour make the decision. She may, however, later appeal her colleague’s decision. Aoun issued the initial warrant for Raja Salameh’s arrest.
• On Thursday, Mansour questioned Raja Salameh for several hours on suspicion of involvement in real estate transactions in France in connection with BDL. Mansour issued a new arrest warrant for Raja Salameh following the hearing.
• "Raja Salameh was not released [after the questioning], he was asked to provide documents for a final decision to be issued. He confessed that he bought the apartments in question and he must show the sources of the money that financed these purchases, otherwise he will remain detained,” a judicial source explained to L’Orient Today.
• Last Monday, Judge Ghada Aoun prosecuted Riad Salameh among others, including Riad Salameh, for illicit enrichment, a charge that concerns apartments acquired in France by the central bank governor, as well as real estate offices rented by BDL from a former companion of the governor on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
• Raja Salameh is also being prosecuted for his involvement in this investigation, as is Anna Kosakova, the former companion in question. Three companies, SCI ZEL, Eciffice and BET SA, are also being prosecuted in the case. Aoun had ordered the seizure of Raja Salameh's real estate assets in the context of the real estate cases.