Former Banque du Liban Governor, Riad Salameh. Screenshot taken in July 2023 from the LBCI website.
At Thursday’s hearing, Beirut’s first investigative judge, Bilal Halawi, did not set a date for a new hearing in the Forry Associates case, which involves around $330 million in commissions allegedly earned by this brokerage firm from the sale of central bank securities.
Represented by his attorneys at the hearing, former BDL Governor Riad Salameh, accused of being implicated in the case, failed to provide Judge Halawi with written proof that he withdrew the state liability lawsuits he had lodged in August 2023 against the sitting judges of the Beirut indictment chamber, who are in charge of ruling on several matters in his case.
A few months ago, however, Salameh had delivered to the clerk’s office of the plenary assembly of the Court of Cassation, which couldn’t meet due to a lack of quorum, the state liability lawsuits. At the Dec. 3 hearing, Judge Halawi asked him to submit written documents confirming the withdrawal of lawsuits as if to compensate for the fact that the court was unable to rule on the matter, a judge familiar with the case told L’Orient-Le Jour.
Insisting on state liability lawsuits
However, on Thursday, Salameh reiterated to the investigative judge his insistence on these lawsuits, in particular the one lodged against the rotating sitting bench of the Beirut Indictment Chamber, chaired by Mireille Mallak.
In August 2023, at the request of Helene Iskandar, head of the Cases Authority, this chamber overturned a decision by the former first investigative judge in Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra, to release Salameh, without setting a date for a new hearing after questioning him.
Chaired by Sami Soudki, the next rotating sitting bench of the Indictment Chamber was also targeted by a similar lawsuit to the one lodged against the sitting bench chaired by Mallak.
Commenting on the decision not to start the investigation as long as Salameh persists in his lawsuits, the above-mentioned judicial source said that Judge Halawi does not want any future Plenary Assembly (when quorum will be secured) to question the decisions taken by the relevant sitting bench of the Indictment Chamber, as it could lead to the annulment of the decisions as part of his investigation.
Yet, another judicial source said the targeted sitting benches are no longer involved in the case. The judge recalled that Iskadar withdrew her lawsuit against Abou Samra in July and that another sitting bench of the Indictment Chamber, chaired by Nassib Elia, accepted the withdrawal and referred the case to Judge Halawi to begin his investigation.
The decision made by the chamber, chaired by Judge Elia was upheld by the chamber chaired by Souheir Harakeh, added the same source. As a result, Salameh’s lawsuits are now unfounded, and it is no longer necessary for him to withdraw them for the investigation to resume.
Investigation into ‘consultation account’ postponed sine die
It seems that the investigation into BDL’s “consultations account” has been suspended, due to waivers of immunity. The case, which involves Salameh and two lawyers Micky Tueni and Marwan Issa al-Khoury, is about the transfer of almost $44 million from this account to a private one.
The two lawyers presented form-related pleas about the waiver of immunity, which Judge Halawi rejected in late November. They argued that the council of the Bar Association had authorized the public prosecutor’s office for financial crimes to prosecute them for specific offenses, other than the ones regarding which the prosecution decided to take legal action.
Their appeal against Halawi’s rejection of their form-related pleas was upheld on Dec. 4 by the Indictment Chamber, chaired by Elia. The latter required that the Bar Association provide authorization regarding the new offenses. L’Orient-Le Jour learned that Judge Halawi will not be able to schedule a new hearing after the decision of the Bar Association’s Council.
An informed source claims that on Dec. 6, the public prosecution’s office for financial crimes sent a new request for authorization to the Bar Association, without however providing any documents on which the Association could base its decision on whether or not to lift the immunities.
The same source stated that, in any event, the council has summoned the two lawyers to hear them next week on the accusations. It has until Jan. 6 — one month from receipt of the request from the public prosecutor’s office — to render its decision.
