The headquarters of BDL. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun entered Banque du Liban’s headquarters in Hamra along with members of State Security on Tuesday morning, a judicial source confirmed to L’Orient Today. The confirmation follows local media reports that a decision was issued by Judge Raja Hamoush to prevent State Security from entering BDL’s premises.
Here’s what we know:
• According to local media, State Security forces also raided the house of the central bank’s governor, Riad Salameh, on Tuesday, but they did not find him there.
• Aoun issued a subpoena against Salameh in February after he failed to show up for questioning as part of an investigation she was leading into alleged misconduct and corruption.
• Judge Aoun had previously opened an investigation into Riad Salemeh on suspicion of fraud in the period preceding Lebanon’s 2019 financial collapse after a suit was filed against him by lawyers representing the civil society group “The People Want to Reform the System.”
• The BDL chief and his brother Raja Salameh are also part of a judicial investigation into Forry Associates Ltd, Riad being an economic beneficiary of the company, in which they are accused of embezzlement, fraud, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion.