The former director general of the road traffic department, Hoda Salloum. (Credit: NNA/File photo)
The former director general of the road traffic department, Hoda Salloum, was arrested Tuesday night on the orders of the public prosecutor at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Nazek el-Khatib, for further investigation in an ongoing case related to corruption in the Vehicle Registration Center, the first investigating judge of Mount Lebanon, Nicolas Mansour, confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.
The investigation has already revealed embezzlement by some officials and led to dozens of arrests in recent days.
The caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi last Tuesday authorized the initiation of legal proceedings against Salloum, for "professional negligence," according to the statements issued by her lawyer, former MP Hadi Hobeiche. On Nov. 11, State Security also raided the Vehicle Registration Center in Dekwaneh.
Arrest warrants were issued on Nov. 10 for six employees of this center, bringing the total number of arrest warrants to 15. A judicial source told L'Orient-Le Jour that five employees of the vehicle registration centers in Dekwaneh and Ouzai, in the suburbs of Beirut, were arrested after the investigation progressed. One of those arrested is the head of the Ouzao center, B. Ayad. Several senior employees are also being prosecuted.
Salloum was previously arrested in 2020 on the basis of a search warrant issued by the public prosecutor at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, Ghada Aoun. The former director was also arrested in December 2019 and later released on bail in a case of abuse of power and illicit enrichment. In July 2019, the Court of Audit pinpointed lack of transparency in the management of parking meter contracts linking the road traffic department to municipalities.