The headquarters of Cedrus Bank in Dora, at the northern entrance of Beirut, on Sept. 25, 2025. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutors/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Detained since last September on suspicion of fraudulently withdrawing $2 million from dermatologist Roy Moutran's accounts, former Cedrus Bank branch manager Caline Fares was granted conditional release Friday after the Mount Lebanon Indictment Chamber set bail at 20 billion Lebanese liras, equivalent to around $224,000.
The decision by the chamber, headed by Judge Fadi Aridi, followed a request submitted by Fares' lawyers, Alain Khoury and Walid Katra, in May.
Moutran’s lawyer, Rita Rahme, immediately challenged the request. Rahme also represents Serena Ayoub, Moutran’s niece, in a separate case involving the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of $100,000 from her account, as well as physician Antoine Choucair and his wife in another case involving $800,000.
The chamber rejected Rahme's appeal and imposed Fares' bail, pending the issuance of a final indictment.
The case reached the chamber after Fares appealed an indictment issued in February by Mount Lebanon First Investigating Judge Nada al-Asmar, who charged her with theft, fraud, and forgery of documents and signatures.
In the same decision, Judge Asmar also indicted Cedrus Bank under Article 210 of the Penal Code, which states that legal entities are criminally liable for offenses committed by their directors on their behalf or through their means.
The indictment followed an investigation launched after Moutran filed a complaint a year ago alleging the fraudulent withdrawal of more than $2 million from his account. In testimony before the court, Moutran said the signature used in the transactions did not match that of his sister, Nadine, to whom he had granted power of attorney to carry out such operations.
