The headquarters of Cedrus Bank on Sept. 25, 2025. (Credit: Illustrative photo by Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Caline Fares, former director of Cedrus Bank-Jounieh, along with the bank itself, is the subject of an indictment issued by the Mount Lebanon First Investigative Judge Nada al-Asmar, charging them with theft, fraud, and forgery of documents and signatures.
The judicial decision follows an investigation opened after a complaint brought a year ago by a client of the bank, Roy Moutran, a renowned dermatologist, through his attorney, Rita Rahmeh, especially concerning a “fraudulent withdrawal” of more than $2 million taken from the physician’s account.
In his statements before the court, he claimed that the signature used to withdraw his money did not match that of his sister, Nadine, to whom he had given power of attorney for this purpose.
Suspected of having made the withdrawals without Moutran’s knowledge, the director of the Jounieh branch was fired by bank management, while complaints were filed against her, one by the bank itself and another by the depositor, who also brought action against Cedrus.
Fares, who has been under arrest since last September, has also been charged by the Mount Lebanon First Investigative Judge with illicit enrichment, based on article 2 of the law of the same name. Thanks to the allegedly stolen funds, she is said to have acquired real estate in Lebanon and abroad.
Regarding the banking institution, the indictment targets it under article 210 of the Penal Code, which states that “legal entities are criminally liable for the acts of their directors, when such acts are committed in the name of said legal entities or by any of their means.”
The action led by attorney Rahmeh also included a complaint filed on behalf of Moutran’s niece, Serena Ayoub. The latter had discovered that the balance of her own account at Cedrus Bank, amounting to $100,000, had fallen to $2,000, although she had never touched it. For a similar reason, another doctor, Antoine Shoucair, and his wife also instructed the attorney to file a complaint for forgery and illegal withdrawal of nearly $800,000 from their accounts.
Judge Asmar has referred the case to the sole criminal judge of Jounieh, while dismissing Cedrus Bank’s case filed last October against Roy Moutran and his sister Nadine for “fabrication of evidence, false accusation and blackmail.”
The magistrate found that the elements of these offenses were not established in this instance and thus issued a dismissal in their favor.
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