Beirut - Marwa Shaheen - Beth:

The Appeal Public Prosecutor in Mount Lebanon, Judge Ghada Aoun, issued a subpoena against the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, to appear before the Lebanese judiciary in a session scheduled for the fifteenth of this February, to consider the complaint submitted against him by the legal department of the group “The People Want Reform of the System.” With the crimes of illicit enrichment, money laundering and squandering public money for personal benefits.

 Assigning the State Security Apparatus to bring Salama to investigation

After the Governor of the Banque du Liban refrained from appearing before the judiciary for three consecutive sessions, Judge Ghada Aoun assigned the State Security Agency to arrest Salameh and bring him to investigation 24 hours before the scheduled session. Article 106 of the Code of Criminal Trials states: “The defendant must appear before the investigating judge’s department after notifying him of his summons and appear before him. If he does not appear, without giving a legitimate excuse, or if the investigative judge fears his escape, he issues a subpoena. In his right, it includes a written order to the security forces to ensure that he is brought within twenty-four hours of the scheduled hearing.”

circumvention of the law

Judicial sources indicate that Riad Salameh has already resorted to legal methods that may have avoided him appearing before the Appeal Public Prosecutor in Mount Lebanon, by submitting a request to dismiss the case, which may cause significant delays in the judicial procedures as stipulated by Lebanese law.

And Judge Aoun had started a legal process against the governor of the Banque du Liban since 2019, coinciding with the start of the financial collapse that took place in Lebanon. The cash that Riad Salameh delayed was one of the main causes of the collapse of the monetary system and the hitting of the banking sector.

Luxembourg requests information on the real estate and banking assets of Riad Salameh

In the context, Lebanese satellite sources confirmed that the local authorities in Lebanon had received a letter from Luxembourg requesting information regarding the accounts and assets of Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh.

Neither the judicial authorities in Luxembourg nor the Lebanese Ministry of Justice have commented on the reasons for requesting information about the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon.

It should be noted that the Public Prosecution of the Mount Lebanon Governorate has issued a decision to place a prohibition sign on all real estate and cars belonging to the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in addition to a decision to prevent him from traveling by land, sea and air after several lawsuits that Salameh faced on charges of breaching his job duties. negligence, illicit enrichment, money laundering, and fraud.