Lebanon's central bank governor, Riad Salameh, during an interview with AFP at his office in Beirut, December 15, 2017.(Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP/ File photo)
BEIRUT — Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh was questioned for over three hours Wednesday by Beirut's first investigating judge, Charbel Abou Samra, in connection with charges including forgery, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion.
It was the first time Salameh presented himself in front of the Lebanese judiciary.
Salameh’s brother, Raja, and his former assistant, Marianne Hoayek, also attended the summons but were not questioned by the judge, who concentrated his examination on Salameh.
After waiting on the premises for over an hour, Raja Salameh and Marianne Hoyek exited the courthouse, according to a source at the Palais de Justice.
A new hearing has been scheduled for the Salameh brothers and Hoyek next Tuesday.
A judicial source estimated that the examining magistrate will not have the opportunity to question Raja Salameh and Marianne Hoyek at this next hearing either, but he still summoned them.
Questions from Judge Iskandar
According to a senior judicial source, Salameh cooperated during the hearing and expressed no reservations about the questions put by Judge Abou Samra.
In addition to his own questions, the magistrate also put to Salameh a series of questions prepared by Judge Helene Iskandar, in her capacity as head of the State Litigation Department, who acted as a civil party in this case to protect the interests of the Lebanese state.
Iskandar does not have the power to put questions directly to the governor during these interrogations. According to the same source, however, Judge Abou Samra refused to ask some of the questions prepared by Iskandar.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour before the hearing, Salameh's French lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, emphasized that his client "has always complied with the summonses of Lebanese judges, even when they were acting within the framework of international cooperation" with the various European jurisdictions that have brought charges against Riad Salameh.
He added: "But why and how should we respond to summonses from foreign judges, particularly when these do not respect the formalities, as was the case for the summons received out of time from the French judges?"
Salameh was summoned to attend a hearing in Paris on May 16 but did not appear, claiming that he had not received the summons in time. It was after this failed hearing that French Judge Aude Buresi issued a warrant for his arrest.
For his part, Raja Salameh repeatedly failed to attend hearings before Judge Abou Samra in recent months, citing health reasons.
At the head of the BDL since 1993, Salameh, 72, is seen as one of the main culprits behind Lebanon's serious financial crisis.
Salameh is also suspected of having built up a wealth of real estate and banking assets in Europe through a complex financial set-up and massive misappropriation of Lebanese public funds.
