An AM Bank branch in the Palace of Justice district, Beirut, December 29, 2022. (Credit: P.H.B.)
Ghada Aoun, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal in Mount Lebanon, has barred Marwan Kheireddine, CEO of AM Bank (al-Mawarid Bank), from leaving Lebanon. This action comes amid a legal dispute over a decision by interim Cassation Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar to restrict the judicial police from following Aoun's directives.
Aoun's measure was taken following a complaint lodged by MP Elias Jarada, along with lawyers Hassan Bazzi, Pierre Haddad, Najib Farhat, and their colleagues against the company Optimum Invest and several banks implicated in an ongoing investigation.
According to a brief statement from the National News Agency, the General Directorate of General Security has been informed of this decision, pending final approval from Cassation Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar. General Security, which oversees judicial police operations, is involved in the matter.
Neither Aoun nor Kheireddine responded directly to requests for comment.
'No link to Optimum Invest'
A judicial source close to Aoun said the travel ban on Kheireddine was issued after he failed to appear at a scheduled hearing the same day. The source argued that Hajjar could not prevent Aoun from interacting with the judicial police.
At AM Bank, a source within the institution told L’Orient-Le Jour that Kheireddine’s lawyers had been informed of the summons, however, the CEO opted not to attend the hearing "as he was complying with Judge Hajjar’s prohibition." The source emphasized that there is no connection or ongoing issue between AM Bank and Optimum Invest, a Lebanese financial company mentioned in the audit report by international firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), appointed by the Lebanese government.
This is not the first legal action initiated by Aoun against Kheireddine. In February, she ordered the seizure of his assets after AM Bank allegedly refused clients’ requests to withdraw money deposited in their dollar accounts amid banking restrictions that began in October 2019 at the outset of the economic and financial crisis.