Former President Michel Aoun. (Credit: NNA)
Former President Michel Aoun commented on the Tuesday arrest of former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, calling on the judiciary to rule on the case. "Justice will have spoken its final word once a decision is issued, and not before. We are waiting for this decision before expressing ourselves," the former head of state wrote on X.
Riad Salameh has been in provisional detention since Tuesday, as part of an investigation into financial crimes involving the Lebanese financial firm Optimum Invest (OI).
Michel Aoun and the party he founded, the Free Patriotic Movement, have been among the most outspoken critics of the former governor.
Salameh was detained on Tuesday for four days, until tomorrow, Friday. On Wednesday, 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 interim Investigating Judge Bilal Halaoui. Halaoui holds the authority to issue an arrest warrant against Salameh if necessary.