Riad Salameh during an interview on Al-Sharq TV, in February 2023. (Credit: Screenshot/Al-Sharq)
French lawyer William Bourdon told L'Orient-Le Jour on Wednesday that the Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh is now considered "a fugitive" after an international warrant for his arrest was issued by the French judge Aude Buresi.
Bourdon is a lawyer for the Sherpa association and the collective of victims of fraudulent and criminal practices in Lebanon. Sherpa and the collective are both civil parties in the corruption proceedings against Salameh in France.
"Salameh now has fugitive status. He is the partner of his own misfortune and at the origin of the situation in which he finds himself today," said Bourdon. "Everything else is smoke and mirrors tricks that have nothing to do with the law."
According to Bourdon, Salameh will be able to claim his rights — including the right to appeal the judge's decision — only when he is taken under arrest.
Salameh is under investigation in several European countries, where he is suspected of having built up a wealth of real estate and banking assets through a complex financial arrangement and massive misappropriation of Lebanese public funds.
The governor, who denies the accusations, was summoned to the judicial court in Paris for questioning on Tuesday morning but did not appear.
Shortly after the scheduled time of his hearing, Judge Buresi issued a warrant for his arrest. Riad Salameh promised to "fight" the decision.
Within Lebanon, Salameh, 72, is accused of corruption and considered a key figure responsible for the ongoing financial crisis that hit the country in the fall of 2019.