The former governor of the Bank du Liban (BDL, central bank) Riad Salameh, posing in what appears to be a vault filled with gold bars, after the announcement of a successful audit of the bank's gold reserves on Nov. 24, 2022. (Archive photo provided by BDL)
The first investigative judge of Beirut, Roula Osman, postponed Wednesday's hearing on the Forry Associates case to March 4, 2026, due to the strike by judicial assistants.
This case, in which former Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank) governor Riad Salameh is allegedly implicated, involves commissions amounting to $330 million that were reportedly received by this brokerage firm as part of the sale of BDL financial securities.
The investigation had been suspended for over two years following appeals filed in 2023 by Salameh against several Beirut indicting chambers successively tasked with examining an appeal from former head of State Litigation, Helene Iskandar, against former chief investigative judge of Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra.
However, the plenary assembly of the Court of Cassation, competent to rule on Salameh's appeals, was unable to meet due to a lack of quorum.
In July 2024, Iskandar eventually withdrew her appeal against Samra, and an indicting chamber not targeted by Salameh accepted her request in a decision confirmed by the Court of Cassation.
For his part, the former governor reportedly expressed at that time his intention to also withdraw his appeals before the plenary assembly, but judge Bilal Halaoui demanded written proof of this withdrawal, which was never provided.
He then decided, in December 2024, to suspend his hearings to avoid a risk of the proceedings being declared null and void, according to him.
Iran negotiator vows 'decisive' response to US-Israeli attack