(Illustration photo featuring images by João Sousa and AFP)
BEIRUT — Former Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh, arrested for embezzling public funds, was released from detention on Friday evening after paying a record-high bail of $14 million.
"Today, Riad Salameh is today a free man," his lawyer, Marc Habka, told reporters outside the Bhannes Hospital in Metn where Salameh was receiving treatment under close security surveillance. "We hope that Riad Salameh will be judged in accordance with the law and not before popular courts."
Salameh spent 30 years as the head of BDL, starting in 1993. Initially, he was praised for steering Lebanon’s economic recovery amid the destruction left by the Civil War and the ensuing political turmoil. Now, the 75-year-old former central bank chief is facing several criminal charges both internationally and in Lebanon, where many hold him responsible for the crippling financial crisis that rocked the country in 2019 during which depositors lost their life savings as the value of the currency collapsed and banks illegally froze their accounts. Lebanon continues to suffer the consequences of this collapse.
"The head of the Cassation Public Prosecutor's Office, Judge Jamal Hajjar, has verified the origin of Mr. Salameh's bail money, and we will prove its origin with documents and evidence," Habka said. According to L'Orient Today's information, Hajjar opened an investigation into the origin of the funds in order to verify their legitimacy. As part of this, investigators went to Bhannes to question Salameh.
According to information obtained by L'Orient Today, Salameh paid his $14 million bail directly to the Mutual Fund of Magistrates at the Ministry of Justice, where sources say it was placed in secure iron safes. The price of bail was set by the Beirut Indictment Chamber and the judiciary will later decide what is to be done with the money, in accordance with the expected rulings.
The president of the Indictment Chamber, Judge Kamal Nassar, gave his approval for the release of the former governor, provided he is not convicted in another case.
Around midday, Habka had told MTV that "it is not true that bail has been paid so far for Salameh’s release and that there are still very complicated routine procedures and a pending court decision." According to the al-Markazia agency, the lawyer eventually received the court’s decision in the afternoon and was preparing to deliver it to the former governor at Bhannes.
Salameh's case concerns transactions made through the central bank’s “consulting account” amounting to about $44 million. These bank transfers were reportedly made from financial brokerage firm Optimum Invest to a consulting account at the BDL before being deposited into private accounts.
Salameh's bail had initially be set at $20 million by the previous Beirut Indictment Chamber under Judge Nassib Elia — a record in Lebanese judicial history. The new Indictment Chamber, this time led by Judge Kamal Nassar, agreed to lower the bail, setting it at $14 million on Sept. 25.
Habka had filed a request to release his client without bail, referring to Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows defendants to be released without bail after one year in detention.
Salameh's term ended at the end of July 2023 and is being prosecuted for "alleged financial misconduct" in several cases in Lebanon and abroad. He was detained in September 2024 and continues to deny the charges.
With the payment of this bail, he is no longer subject to any arrest warrants in Lebanon. Last July, a $3 million bail was set for Salameh in another case, that of assets in France, including an apartment on the Champs-Élysées. According to a well-informed source, this bail was paid at the end of August in the form of real estate assets.
