The former governor of the BDL, Riad Salameh. (Archive photo: AFP)
BEIRUT — Riad Salameh's lawyer, Wassim Ghaoui, announced Thursday that he will legally contest the pretrial detention of his client, the former governor of Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank). Salameh was detained following an interrogation by Investigating Judge Sheherazade Nasser, as part of the case related to financial operations involving Bank Audi, for which he and the former CEO of the bank, Samir Hanna, are being prosecuted.
“Pretrial detention is neither a punishment nor proof of guilt, but a measure that was not justified against the former governor. This decision is now being challenged before the Beirut Accusation Chamber, in accordance with current procedures,” Ghaoui wrote in a statement distributed to the press.
The lawyer also argued that the prosecution brought by the public prosecutor against Salameh does not undermine the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled, and claimed that the most recent interrogation “had shown that no funds had been embezzled.” However, he did not provide any concrete details from the interrogation.
Ghaoui recalled that Salameh’s interrogation Wednesday was part of a complaint filed against him by the current BDL governor, Karim Souhaid. “Based on this complaint, the attorney general at the Beirut Court of Appeal charged him with embezzling funds from BDL and creating shell companies, according to information that leaked in the media about the indictment at the origin of the public action,” the lawyer emphasized.
“The second interrogation of Salameh in this case lasted more than three hours. According to the statement, it demonstrated that there had been no embezzlement of funds or any damage suffered by BDL and, of course, that no shell companies had been created,” the lawyer asserted. “Nevertheless, it was decided to issue an arrest warrant for him, despite the full repayment of the loan to BDL and the profits it made,” he said.
The case notably concerns a 2010 transaction in which an offshore company acquired about 17 million shares of Bank Audi from EFG Hermes for roughly $153 million, with BDL financing. The same period saw Nagib and Taha Mikati join Bank Audi’s capital in a separate operation, also financed in part by bank loans. BDL accuses Salameh of having used central bank funds in transactions now under judicial scrutiny.
The complaint filed by BDL in January relates mainly to transactions in which securities were allegedly subscribed to by the central bank from companies, with collateral consisting of Bank Audi shares. These alleged operations reportedly caused significant financial losses, as central bank funds were invested in companies that later turned out to be shell companies or were in financial distress.
Salameh's lawyers argue, however, that no BDL funds were embezzled and that, on the contrary, the bank actually realized a profit estimated at $33 million. They maintain that decisions made by BDL in this matter were approved by its Central Council, in order to reject the allegation that only the governor is responsible.
A judicial source close to BDL, however, sees the profit argument as irrelevant, given that the complaint is not limited to the transaction in question but concerns a more complex financial arrangement with murkier legal implications.
