Salameh case: Helene Iskandar still trying to unblock the investigation

The head of state litigation, Helene Iskandar, presented a request on Wednesday before the Beirut indictment chamber chaired by Zalfa al-Hassan, asking it to take note of her withdrawal of a judgment issued in August 2023 by another indictment chamber chaired by Mireille Mallak, in which the latter had annulled a tacit decision by the former first investigating judge of Beirut Charbel Abou Samra to release the former governor of the Central Bank (BDL) Riad Salameh, after questioning him during the investigation into possible financial embezzlement.

Why did Judge Iskandar make such a request when she herself had asked the chamber presided over by Judge Mallak to annul Judge Abou Samra's decision?

"To reactivate the investigation file," she told L' Orient-Le Jour. Since last August, the appeals of the former governor of the BDL have multiplied, producing a blocking effect on the case.

Eleven months ago, Salameh had filed an appeal for state liability against the actions of the indictment chamber presided over by Judge Mallak, thus preventing the latter from summoning him for further questioning. In accordance with his role as the first president of the Beirut Court of Appeal chosen for this specific case, Ayman Oueidat (head of the Beirut Court of Appeal) had successively designated five chambers to continue the process, each of which had been systematically targeted by the same paralyzing appeal. Except for one, that of Habib Mezher, who has himself relinquished jurisdiction. The latest action for liability by the state, which dates from June 24, targets, in addition to Hassan, her two assessors Nancy Karam and Lara Kozak.

Without cause or object

Last January, Judge Iskandar had already tried to end the impasse by submitting her withdrawal of the judgment annulling Judge Abou Samra's decision to the indictment chamber then presided over by Habib Mezher. In this context, she had asked him to return the Salameh case to the interim first investigating judge of Beirut, Bilal Halawi, who had just been appointed to replace Abou Samra. Judge Mezher had not given her approval. Reportedly, he asked her to present proof that the minister of justice – who is responsible for state litigation – had granted her authorization to withdraw.

In her request filed on Wednesday, Iskandar states that the Ministry of Justice's organizational code gives her the power to "represent the state and take all measures to protect its interests." In the event of a dispute over the appropriateness of the measure – in this case, the request made by the head of state litigation to refer the Salamé case to Judge Halawi without waiting for the verdict of the new indictment chamber – the aforementioned code provides that it will be up to the High Consultative Commission, chaired by the director of the Ministry of Justice and also composed of the director of the Institute of Judicial Studies and the head of the Consultations and Legislation Commission, to decide.

In the same document, Judge Iskandar also asked the indictment chamber chaired by Hassan to begin examining the Salameh case, despite the appeal for liability filed against her on June 25. She citeed as a reason in particular the fact that such an appeal must concern specific decisions, whereas in this case, the indictment chamber has not yet made a decision. The action brought by Riad Salamé is therefore "without cause or object," she argued, adding that it is illegal.

L'Orient-Le Jour has also learned that the former governor of theCentral Bank filed a state liability action against Ayman Oueidat at the beginning of the week, who had been tasked by the first president of the Court of Appeal Habib Rizkallah with choosing the chambers. A function that normally falls to Rizkallah, who cannot fulfill it because he himself is the target of an appeal by Salameh. Now that Judge Oueidat can no longer fulfill it as well, Judge Rizkallah replaced Oueidat with another magistrate, Samir Akiki, president of the criminal court of Beirut. According to a source at the Palace of Justice, he has not yet officially taken up his new mission.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.