Banque du Liban's headquarters in Beirut. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Public Prosecutor at the Beirut Court of Appeal Ziad Abi Haidar filed a request on Wednesday to be withdrawn from the case concerning the forensic audit report by Alvarez & Marsal on the criminal aspect of Banque du Liban's accounts, a senior judicial source told L'Orient-Le Jour.
The previous day, Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat had referred his observations on this matter to several courts, including the Beirut Court of Appeal, calling on them to launch investigations into the matter.
Now officials must await a chamber of the Court of Appeal to accept Abi Haidar's request to be withdrawn from the case, which it will do if it considers the request justified.
In this case, the President of the Beirut Court of Appeal, Habib Rizkallah, will have to appoint another magistrate. "The entire procedure is expected to take around a week," the same source added.
A&M's preliminary report, seen by L'Orient-Le Jour, covers the forensic accounting aspect of the BDL accounts — essentially the criminal aspect. The 332-page report, dated Aug. 7, has been made available to ministers.
The document examines BDL's accounts between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2020, and makes some scathing findings. A copy of the report was quickly leaked to the media earlier this month.
On Tuesday evening, Oueidat called on the Financial Prosecutor's Office and the BDL Special Investigation Commission to launch investigations based on the A&M report. He also referred his observations to the Financial Prosecutor's Office, the Beirut Appeals Prosecutor's Office and the Special Investigation Commission, "for consultation and to launch the necessary investigations."
In June 2022, Abi Haidar withdrew from the investigation involving former BDL governor Riad Salameh and his brother Raja, in the Forry Associates Ltd affair. Both are suspected of embezzlement, forgery, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion in connection with the company, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands and of which Salameh is the beneficial owner.
Salameh lodged an appeal against the dismissal of Judge Abi Haidar last January.