Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun. (Credit: Marc Fayad)
BEIRUT — Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun filed an appeal on Friday contesting the decision of the first investigating judge at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Nicolas Mansour, to release on bail central bank Governor Riad Salameh’s brother, Raja, who has been held for two weeks in an illicit enrichment trial.
Here’s what we know:
• The appeal was presented to the Indictment Chamber, which is expected to issue a ruling early next week. Until then, Raja Salameh remains in custody, as he has since charges were filed by Mansour following an investigation into Salameh’s involvement in a realty transaction in France in connection with BDL.
• A legal source had confirmed to L’Orient Today Thursday that Mansour authorized Salameh’s conditional release provided a LL500 billion bail be paid along with the issuance of a travel ban and an asset freeze against the governor’s brother. The demand for Salameh’s release had been filed by his lawyer, Marwan Issa el-Khoury, on Monday. Salameh’s attorney filed a request for a lower bail amount.
• Ghada Aoun charged Riad Salameh on March 21 for illicit enrichment and ordered the seizure of all his real estate holdings. The accusations against him concern apartments Salameh acquired in France, as well as real estate offices BDL rented on the Champs-Elysees from the central bank governor’s former companion, Anna Kosakova.
• Kosakova and Raja Salameh are also being investigated for alleged illicit activities, along with three companies identified as SCI ZEL, Eciffice and BET SA. Jean Tannous, assistant prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, questioned Salameh Tuesday at the Beirut Courthouse in connection with another case concerning Salameh’s company Forry Associates Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2001.