Illegal online gambling case before Baabda indictment chamber

BEIRUT —The Mount Lebanon indictment chamber, led by Judge Fadi Aridi, on Wednesday received the case file on illegal online gambling linked to Casino du Liban and Onlive Support Services (OSS), a company operating under a management contract with the casino via the licensed platform Betarabia.

This is a case of corruption linked to the opening of numerous gaming halls in several regions across the country, despite the practice being prohibited by the contract in question, in accordance with the law that grants exclusive geographic rights to such gaming within the Casino du Liban (Lebanon Casino).

This illegal expansion is said to have led to a vast black market, involving the misappropriation of several million dollars that should have gone to the state.

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Former Casino du Liban CEO, OSS director accused of embezzling public funds

The indictment chamber was seized on Sept. 8 by an appeal from the Mount Lebanon appeals prosecutor's office, headed by Prosecutor General Sami Sader, against the indictment issued three days earlier by Mount Lebanon Appeals Court investigating judge Tarek Bou Nassar.

Bou Nassar had retained the offense of squandering public funds against the CEOs of Casino du Liban and OSS, Roland Khoury and Jad Gharios, while charges for the crime of embezzling public funds had previously been brought in July by the financial prosecutor's office, then headed by Dora al-Khazen.

The distinction is important, a judicial source told L'Orient Today: Judge Bou Nassar considered that for a crime to be established, the defendant must be a state official. In his view, neither Khoury nor Gharios are such officials, as Casino du Liban is not a public institution, and OSS is a private service company. The financial prosecutor's office, on the other hand, viewed the embezzlement of state funds by anyone managing them as a crime.

Before transferring the case to the appeals prosecutor's office, the financial prosecutor's office also suspected Khoury and Gharios of money laundering and tax evasion. Although Judge Bou Nassar charged both men with these offenses, he did not uphold the charge of illicit enrichment. This latter point is likely another reason for the appeal, according to the same source, who added that the prosecution also allegedly contested the release on bail of about a dozen "lounge" (gaming hall) owners.

In addition to Judge Aridi, the indictment chamber is composed of Maya Oueidate and Inès Maatouk. The latter two were appointed temporarily after the two regular assessors withdrew from the case, one due to a family relationship with a lawyer for one of the suspects, and the other due to a family relationship with a magistrate from the Mount Lebanon appeals prosecutor's office who had taken actions in the case.