The former governor of Lebanon's central bank, Riad Salameh, during an interview with the LBCI channel. (Credit: Screenshot taken from the LBCI website)
The Beirut indictment chamber, presided over by Judge Nassib Elia, decided Tuesday to accept a request for the release of former governor of Banque du Liban (BDL) Riad Salameh, who is facing several corruption cases in Lebanon and abroad, on a financial bail of $20 million and five billion Lebanese Liras in cash, according to the Al-Markaziya agency. Payment of the five billion is required as a guarantee that Salameh will attend upcoming hearings.
Elia decided to release him on medical grounds, a judicial source told L'Orient-Le Jour. He based his decision on the report of a commission of forensic doctors. Salameh is reportedly suffering from high blood pressure and lung damage.
The indictment chamber's decision is part of the Consulting Account case linked to transactions between Optimum Invest and the BDL involving about $44 million in transfers between this financial brokerage and the central bank. These bank transfers are alleged to have been made from Optimum Invest to a consulting account at the BDL before being sent to private accounts.
The former head of the central bank, who remains in detention, now faces two options: Pay the bail or file an objection before the same body to try to reduce the amount.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, Salameh's lawyer Marc Habka welcomed the decision to release his client but considered the amount of the bail "illogical," especially as "there is no evidence that he is involved in the Optimum case." This sum is considered excessive by several observers, particularly since Salameh supposedly does not have access to funds he may have abroad. The case is under investigation, and the indictment chamber has decided to expand its inquiry by holding new hearings.
Already in the case concerning the exploitation of real estate in France, a request for Salameh's release had been accepted for a bail of $3 million. But this sum has not yet been secured and is still required for his release. Salameh will therefore have to pay a total of $23 million.
Another lawyer for Salameh filed an objection to reduce the $3 million sum, but Mount Lebanon's chief investigative judge, Nicolas Mansour, who is handling the case (concerning the BDL’s leasing of property on the Champs Élysées), rejected this request. According to our information, there is talk of securing a property guarantee equivalent to $3 million.
Salameh, whose term ended in late July 2023, was being prosecuted for "alleged financial embezzlement" in multiple cases in Lebanon and abroad. He continues to deny the charges. He was the subject of a third arrest warrant in the Talal Abou Ghazaleh case. Dating back to 2021, the complaint by depositor Abou Ghazaleh – who reportedly has several million dollars frozen at Société générale de banque au Liban (SGBL) – accuses Salameh of having issued "circulars aimed at changing the liberal economic system set out by the preamble of the constitution ... in order to ... conceal the state of bankruptcy affecting most banks in Lebanon." Salameh, however, had been released in that case on bail (less substantial than the others), which was paid.
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