A few dozen protesters in front of the Beirut courthouse on Sept. 5, 2024. Photo provided by the association "The Cry of Depositors."
A few dozen protesters responded on Thursday morning to the call for a sit-in organized by the "Cry of Depositors" in front of the courthouse, to show their solidarity with the Prosecutor General of the Republic, Jamal Hajjar, and his decision on Tuesday to place former Banque du Liban (BDL) governor Riad Salameh in provisional detention.
After hearing Salameh and placing him in detention for four days, until Friday, the prosecutor transferred the case to the financial public prosecutor's office, which has charged the former governor with "embezzlement and theft of public funds, forgery, and illicit enrichment" and referred him to caretaker Beirut First Investigative Judge Bilal Halawi. Halawi has the authority to issue an arrest warrant against Salameh if necessary.
“We are here in solidarity with the judiciary and the prosecutor, who promised us that he would continue on the path of justice,” said Moussa Agathy, spokesperson for The Cry of Depositors, to L'Orient Today. “We hope that the judiciary will not stop with Salameh and will continue to pursue all those responsible for looting depositors' funds,” he added.
'Crimes and financial schemes'
“Continue your work, prosecutor, and keep Salameh in custody”; “Judge, continue what you have started,” read some of the signs held by the protesters, who also referred to the “crimes” and “financial schemes” of the former BDL chief.
A spokesperson for the association speaking to the press during the rally indicated that after a meeting with Hajjar, it seemed that the prosecutor “is someone who wants to work.” Another representative of the association, Alaa Khorchid, stated that the prosecutor’s decision is “a major accomplishment that we have been waiting for a long time.”
“Behind Salameh, there were other people who received bribes and bank owners who are being sought by the judiciary,” he said, hoping that the financial prosecutor “will continue” the work and address their cases.
“It is not with the Optimum Invest case, in which the arrest took place, that depositors will recover their funds, but it is a first step because we consider Salameh to be the key that opens the black box. Through him, we can achieve our goals,” the spokesperson added, also mentioning the cases of “financial engineering, Sayrafa (the platform that set the exchange rate used by banks for much of the crisis), funds that may have been transferred abroad (while other depositors' accounts were blocked) before and after Oct. 17, 2019, and subsidies on essential goods.”
“Riad Salameh is the one who decided to empty the BDL coffers using depositors' funds,” he further accused.
The protest started around 10 a.m. and, according to our journalist, the participants dispersed by 11 a.m.
Groups of Lebanese depositors have been denouncing the illegal restrictions imposed by local banks on withdrawals and transfers since 2019.
Additional reporting by Sally Abou AlJoud.