Indictment Chamber judge recuses himself from Raja Salameh case

BEIRUT — Mount Lebanon Indictment Chamber judge Pierre Francis stepped aside Tuesday from ruling on a release request filed on behalf of central bank governor Raid Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh, who has been in detention since March 17, a legal source confirmed to L’Orient Today.

Here’s what we know:

    • The state-run National News Agency reported that the file has now been referred to Baabda Appeals Court judge Elie El Helou.

    • On Friday, Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun filed an appeal contesting the decision of the first investigating judge at the Mount Lebanon Appeals Court, Nicolas Mansour, to release Raja Salameh on a LL500 billion bail bond. Judge Aoun has brought illicit enrichment charges against Raja Salameh.

    • The appeal was presented to the Indictment Chamber, which was expected to issue a ruling this week. Without a ruling, Raja Salameh remains in custody due charges filed by Mansour following an investigation into Salameh’s involvement in a realty transaction in France in connection with BDL.

    • Ghada Aoun on March 21 prosecuted Raja Salameh among others, including Riad Salameh, for illicit enrichment based on 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.