The governor of Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, during an interview with Reuters, on Nov. 23, 2021 in Beirut. (Credit: Reuters / Mohamed Azakir)
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After an order to release Raja Salameh on LL500 billion bail was blocked, the decision in the matter now lies with the Indictment Chamber. Nicolas Mansour, first investigating judge at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, yesterday ordered Raja Salameh’s release on bail of LL500 billion, but Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun filed an appeal to his release today. The younger brother of central bank chief Riad Salameh, will remain in custody, where he has been since March 17, until the Indictment Chamber decides on the appeal by Aoun, who charged him with illicit enrichment. In response to Aoun’s appeal, Raja Salemeh’s lawyer, Marwan Issa El-Khoury filed a counter appeal against Aoun and requested that the bail amount be lowered.
Judge Nicolas Mansour also yesterday postponed a hearing for Riad Salameh to June 9 after the Banque du Liban governor failed to appear in court. Mansour gave Salameh’s attorney, Chaouki Azan, 10 days to file a formal complaint against the suit. The governor is implicated in investigations concerning financial wrongdoing in five European countries. Judge Ghada Aoun recently charged Riad Salameh and his entourage with illicit enrichment. Meanwhile, the head of the Committee of Cases at the Justice Ministry, Judge Helena Iskandar, sent a letter to the finance minister requesting a lawyer or a law firm to assist her before foreign courts that are probing Riad Salameh, and to prevent foreign countries’ confiscation of his frozen funds, since they “legally belong to Lebanon.” Five European countries, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco and Belgium, on Monday froze 120 million euros in assets that German prosecutors confirmed were tied to the Salameh investigation.
Lawyer Mark Habka, against whom Judge Ghada Aoun filed a complaint, is filing two civil and penal actions in response. Last week, Judge Aoun said she would initiate proceedings against Habka after he appeared as a guest on MTV’s Sar el Wa2et program, during which he criticized the judge. Judge Aoun had also initiated proceedings against the host of Sar el Wa2et, Marcel Ghanem, and his brother George Ghanem, who’s always a guest of the program. During his television program, Marcel Ghanem on Thursday fiercely attacked Judge Aoun in his intro. Yesterday, Habka appeared in court on his own behalf and as an attorney for Ghanem.
With the deadline to form candidate lists for the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15 looming on Monday, new lists were announced yesterday. MP Fouad Makhzoumi announced his National Dialogue party-backed candidate list, called “Beirut needs a heart” in the constituency many feel is the one to watch: the Beirut II district. During the announcement, Makhzoumi mainly criticized Hezbollah, which in 2018 won four seats in Beirut II, as part of an alliance with Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement. Over the years, Sunni seats in Beirut II have been dominated by the Future Movement led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The party won six seats in the constituency in 2018. In January, Hariri announced that he was retreating from political life and asked his party to do the same, opening the field in Beirut II given the absence of a strong alternative to the Future Movement’s candidates. Meanwhile, sitting MPs Walid Baarini and Hady Hobeiche, both members of the Future Movement-affiliated parliamentary bloc, broke from the party’s boycott of the elections to appear on the “National Moderation” list registered in the North Lebanon I yesterday. The district is one of the main fiefdoms of the Future Movement. Radical change could occur in this constituency in the 2022 elections as a result of the Future Movement’s boycott, particularly since its Christian minority leans towards the FPM, meaning that the rival Lebanese Forces party could lose its only seat in the district unless it receives significant Sunni support.
Three more of those prosecuted in the Beirut port blast have filed a complaint against its lead investigator. Numerous demands have been filed for Judge Tarek Bitar’s removal from the case, grinding the investigation to a halt until rulings can be issued. The latest complaint was filed by Salim Georges Chebli, the contractor who carried out the repair works in warehouse 12, where the tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded on Aug. 4, 2020, were stored, and two of his employees. On Tuesday, families of some of the more than 200 people killed by the blast filed a complaint against MPs and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter, against whom Bitar has issued arrest warrants, in order to put an end to what they see as an obstruction of the probe. Khalil and Zeaiter have filed many lawsuits seeking the removal of Bitar, who they accuse of politicizing the investigation, and other judges who refuse to remove Bitar. Last Saturday, more than a year and a half after the tragedy, two new victims were added to its death toll.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Does a recent court decision smooth the way for sectless candidates? It's complicated.”
CORRECTION: This post originally stated that Judge Ghada Aoun had promptly appealed the decision to release Salameh. She was expected to file the appeal Thursday but in fact filed the appeal on Friday