Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor, Ghada Aoun, during a search of the premises of the Mecattaf money transfer company. (Credit: Marc Fayad/File photo)
BEIRUT — The Mouttahidoun collective announced Wednesday that the first investigating judge of Mount Lebanon, Nicolas Mansour, scheduled a hearing for April 3 for suspects implicated in the case involving the money transfer company Mecattaf.
The suspects include Banque Du Liban governor Riad Salameh, who is also the subject of a lawsuit by Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Ghada Aoun on charges of money laundering.
In a statement, Mouttahidoun said Salameh, the chairwoman of the Banking Control Commission (BCC), the entire staff at Mecattaf, the CEO of the General Banking Corporation in Lebanon (SGBL), and employees of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) group will have to be interrogated.
The hearing date was set after the Criminal Court of Cassation rejected appeals related to technical defects claimed by the defendants, according to the statement.
The president of the Cry of the Depositors collective, Alaa Khorshid, filed the complaint "before the Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor in order to recover deposits and curb the depreciation of the lira against the dollar," the statement continued, adding that the collective does not want "this complaint to be used for political purposes."
A political arm wrestling match pits private banks and BDL against Judge Aoun, who has intensified her prosecutions against banking institutions. Judge Aoun is known to be close to the political camp of former president Michel Aoun.