The former governor of the central bank, Riad Salameh. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The first investigative judge of Beirut, Roula Osman, postponed on Wednesday the hearing in the Forry associates case to Jan. 28, 2026.
This case, in which former Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) governor Riad Salameh is allegedly involved, concerns suspected commissions of $330 million that were allegedly received by this brokerage firm as part of sales of BDL financial securities.
The postponement is due to the strike by judicial assistants, launched Wednesday for three days, as well as the nonappearance of the parties summoned, namely Salameh himself, his brother Raja, to whom Forry associates belonged, and his former assistant Marianne Hoyek.
The investigation had been suspended for over two years, following appeals filed in 2023 by Salameh against several Beirut indictment chambers tasked in turn with examining an appeal by the former head of the State Litigation Department, Hélène Iskandar, against the former chief investigative judge of Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra.
However, the plenary assembly of the Court of Cassation, which is competent to review Salameh's appeals, could not convene due to lack of quorum. In July 2024, Iskandar finally withdrew her appeal against Judge Abou Samra, and an indictment chamber not targeted by Salameh accepted her request in a ruling that was upheld by the Court of Cassation.
For his part, Salameh reportedly expressed at the time his intention to drop his appeals before the plenary assembly, but Judge Bilal Halawi demanded written proof of this withdrawal, which was not provided. He then decided, in December 2024, to suspend his hearings to avoid a risk of procedural nullity, in his view.
Last November, the procedure was reactivated: following a request by the current head of the State Litigation Department, John Azzi, Judge Osman scheduled a hearing for Dec. 10.
