Raja Salameh, younger brother of BDL chief Riad Salameh. (Credit: Reuters / L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun rejected on Wednesday Raja Salameh’s application to be released from custody, in which the brother of the Banque du Liban governor has been on charges of illicit enrichment since March 17, a judicial source confirmed to L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• Salameh’s lawyer, Marwan Issa El-Khoury, applied to the lead investigating judge at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Nicolas Mansour, for his client’s release on Monday. Mansour deferred the decision to Aoun but her verdict is not legally binding on Mansour, who can overturn the decision.
• Mansour issued an arrest warrant against Salameh last Thursday after interrogating him about his implication in a real estate affair in France involving the BDL. “Raja Salameh has not been released, he has been asked to provide documents so that a final decision can be made. He admitted to buying the apartments in question and he must show the income sources that financed these purchases or else remain in detention,” the judicial source told L’Orient Today.
• Last Monday, Judge Ghada Aoun prosecuted Raja 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.