Former Governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL) Riad Salameh. (Credit: Joseph Eid/Archives AFP)
As part of his investigation into the Optimum Invest case, which involves transactions totaling around $44 million between the brokerage firm and Banque du Liban (BDL), acting investigating judge Bilal Halawi has scheduled the next hearing for Nov. 19, following a session held on Tuesday, Nov. 5. BDL Governor Riad Salameh’s arrest on Sept. 3 is linked to these allegations, although he denies any wrongdoing.
During Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers Micky Tueni and Marwan Issa al-Khoury — facing charges from the financial prosecutor's office over bank transfers allegedly made from Optimum Invest to BDL’s ‘consultation’ account and to their own accounts — submitted preliminary objections, to dismiss the charges, to Beirut’s Acting First Examining Magistrate Bilal Halawi. They did so through their lawyers, who are legally authorized to represent them in absentia at this stage of the proceedings.
Judge Halawi referred these procedural objections to the financial prosecutor’s office, awaiting its advisory opinion before deciding whether to accept or dismiss them. The two lawyers also deny any allegations against them.
What are the verdicts for the two release requests?
Meanwhile, Salameh awaits a ruling on his release request, which was denied by Halawi and appealed on Oct. 29 before the Beirut Court of Appeals. According to L’Orient-Le Jour’s information, Salameh’s appeal was heard on Tuesday by a special indictment chamber presided by Judge Nassib Elia. The decision was made following Salameh’s state liability lawsuit against the indictment chamber headed by Judge Maher Cheaito, preventing him from fulfilling this role.
Salameh’s potential release is also under review by the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal. On Nov. 1, Salameh appealed before the Court of Appeals to contest the validity of an arrest warrant issued the previous day by Baabda's Investigative Judge Nicolas Mansour. The warrant is based on suspicions regarding Salameh’s alleged involvement in acquiring and managing $11 million in real estate in France. Salameh also denied the allegations made against him in this case.
What about Forry Associates?
In 2023, the prosecutor's office initiated legal proceedings against Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek, on suspicions of embezzling around $330 million allegedly obtained through Forry Associates, a brokerage firm. The three denied any wrongdoing.
To ensure that the Lebanese state recovers the funds if convictions are secured, the head of the Justice Ministry’s Cases Authority, Helene Iskandar, joined the case and appealed a decision by former interim Beirut investigating judge Charbel Abou Samra to release Salameh on Aug. 3, 2023, after questioning him.
Iskandar had succeeded in her appeal, but in light of the multiple appeals filed by Salameh against the indictment chamber handling the case, she sought to withdraw the decision to annul his release. She also requested that the case be transferred to Halawi, Abou Samra’s successor.
Ultimately, The Beirut Indictment Chamber chaired by Judge Nassib Elia — whom Salameh had not contested in court — agreed on Oct. 8 to acknowledge the request. However, Salameh immediately appealed the decision to a Cassation chamber chaired by Suheir Harake. Once issued, the Court of Cassation’s ruling will determine whether Halawi can continue the investigation into the Forry Associates case that his predecessor had initiated.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient Le-Jour.