former BDL Governor Riad Salameh. (Credit: Screenshot taken in July 2023 from the LBCI website)
Former Banque du Liban (BDL) Governor Riad Salameh will remain in detention until further notice.
Salameh has been detained since Sept. 3 on allegations of embezzlement involving transactions of around $44 million. These funds are linked to transactions from the BDL’s “consultations” account, with Optimum Invest (OI), a financial firm, also implicated.
On Thursday, the Indictment Chamber led by Judge Nassib Elia dismissed Salameh’s appeal, upholding the initial decision to keep him in custody. Notably, on Oct. 29, Salameh appealed a decision by interim Beirut investigative judge Bilal Halawi, who had denied his release.
Salameh dismissed the charges against him, while OI stated last winter on its website that a financial audit had found “no evidence of embezzlement or illegality” in its dealings with the central bank.
Two attorneys implicated in the case have also denied involvement in any suspicious financial transfers.
In its ruling on Thursday, the indictment chamber deemed the arrest warrant issued by Judge Bilal Halawi lawful, as it complies with conditions outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedure (Article 107), which requires an arrest warrant to be justified and for the alleged acts to carry a penalty of “imprisonment exceeding one year.”
The chamber also dismissed Salameh’s claims that “the alleged offenses are non-existent given the nature of the funds deposited in BDL’s consultation account.”
This is the second release request denied for Salameh. The first, submitted to Halawi on Sept. 19, met the same fate days later.
The former BDL governor is also awaiting the outcome of an appeal challenging an arrest warrant issued against him on Oct. 31 by Baabda’s chief investigating judge, Nicolas Mansour, in a separate case involving the acquisition and management of real estate in France valued at approximately $11 million. Salameh likewise denies the charges in this case.
Forry Associates Ltd case soon back on track?
Meanwhile, an investigation related to the Forry Associates case is expected to resume shortly. The case involves an estimated $330 million in commissions allegedly earned by this brokerage firm, registered in the British Virgin Islands, between 2002 and 2015 from the sale of central bank securities.
The investigation had been stalled since August 2023, when Helene Iskandar, head of the Justice Ministry’s Cases Authority and a civil party defending the interests of the state, appealed to the Beirut indictment chamber against an implicit decision by former Interim Investigating Judge Charbel Abu Samra to leave Salameh free after questioning him.
The indictment chamber ruled in favor of Judge Iskandar, but the process was halted due to multiple appeals filed by Salameh against this ruling and subsequent ones.
Hoping to clear the way, Iskandar ultimately withdrew her appeal last July against the decision to release Salameh, requesting that the Forry Associates case be assigned to Beirut’s chief investigating judge, Halawi, who succeeded Abu Samra after his retirement a year ago.
Ultimately, in October, the indictment chamber presided over by Judge Elia agreed to act on Judge Iskandar’s request.
However, Judge Iskandar’s efforts faced further hurdles, as Salameh lodged an appeal before the Court of Cassation, presided over by Souheir Harakeh, challenging the decision by Judge Elia and his colleagues.
The Court of Cassation, however, dismissed Salameh’s appeal on Nov. 6, thereby clearing the way to transfer the case back to Halawi. This transfer process involves routing the file through Acting Prosecutor General Jamal Hajjar, who will then pass it to Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim, before it ultimately reaches Halawi. Once the case is in his hands, Halawi would schedule a hearing to resume proceedings.
Additionally, the court presided over by Judge Harakeh ordered Salameh to pay LL50 million Lebanese (approximately $560 at the market rate) to the state as a penalty for abusing his right to appeal.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient Le-Jour.