BEIRUT — The head of state legal affairs, Helene Iskandar, sent a request to caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil on Monday, urging him to "provide her with a copy of the forensic audit by the firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) as soon as possible," a senior judicial source confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.

The firm's report covers the forensic accounting aspect of Banque du Liban (BDL)'s accounts. The 332-page report, dated Aug. 7 and made available to ministers, examines BDL's accounts between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2020, and makes some scathing findings.

Judge Iskandar added that she made this request "in order to be able to do her duty on the recovery of public funds and the defense of the rights of the Lebanese state."

Last March, Iskandar joined the civil action linked to suspicions of "forgery, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion" against former BDL Governor Riad Salameh, his brother, Raja, and his former assistant, Marianne Hoayek.

The former governor regularly denies the accusations made against him and remains the subject of international arrest warrants.

On Aug. 9, Iskandar presented an action for state liability against "the serious misconduct of the first investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra," before the plenary session of the Court of Cassation, in relation to the of the hearings of Riad Salameh conducted by this judge.

She did not specify which faults she was referring to.

By the very fact that the complaint by the head of state legal affairs was lodged with the clerk's office of the plenary assembly, Abou Samra was automatically removed from the Salameh case, a legal expert told L'Orient-Le Jour.