A judicial official said that last week, for four consecutive days, a security patrol went “to the Banque du Liban building to inform Governor Riad Salameh of the date of his scheduled interrogation session before Judge Aud Bourizi on Tuesday in Paris, but they did not find him.”
The Lebanese judiciary failed to inform the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in accordance with the rules, that he must appear before the judiciary in Paris, according to a prominent judicial official, according to Agence France-Presse, which is likely to abstain from attending the interrogation session scheduled for Tuesday.
French judges, during their presence in Lebanon, asked their Lebanese counterparts to inform Salameh of his summons to appear before them on May 16, according to European investigations into money laundering and embezzlement cases.
The judicial official said that last week, a security patrol went for four consecutive days “to the Banque du Liban building, to inform Governor Riad Salameh of the date of his scheduled interrogation session before Judge Aud Bourizi on Tuesday in Paris, but they did not find him.”
And every time the patrol went to inform Salama, according to the judicial official, “the security official in the bank would inform her that the ruler did not come for security reasons, or that he had a meeting outside the bank’s headquarters, or that he was present and left a short while ago.”
After it was not possible to inform Salama, the investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abu Samra, will write to the French judge to inform her, “so that she takes the appropriate decision in light of that.”
Unable to inform him, it is likely that Salama will not appear before the French judge, who heard him along with other European judges in March during two sessions supervised by the Lebanese judiciary.
“By not notifying him, Salama is no longer obligated to go to France,” the judicial official said.
A judicial source told AFP that the French judge told Salama, during his hearing in Beirut, that he must appear before her on May 16, but Abu Samra objected to the method, since he must be notified through the Lebanese judiciary in accordance with the rules.
European investigators from France, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium came three times this year to Lebanon, where they heard Salameh and other witnesses in his case, including his brother Raja, former employees of the Banque du Liban and officials of commercial banks.
The European investigations focus on the relationship between the Banque du Liban and the “Fore Associates” company, which is registered in the Virgin Islands, has an office in Beirut, and the economic beneficiary is the ruler’s brother.
It is believed that the company played the role of intermediary to purchase treasury bonds and Eurobonds from the Banque du Liban by receiving a subscription commission, which was transferred to Raja Salameh’s accounts abroad.
Salama continually denies the accusations against him, considering that his prosecution comes in the context of a political and media operation to “tarnish” his image.
France, Germany and Luxembourg froze 120 million euros of Lebanese assets a year ago, following an investigation targeting Salameh and four of his close associates, including his brother, on charges of money laundering and “embezzlement of public funds in Lebanon amounting to more than 330 million dollars and 5 million euros, respectively, between 2002 and 2021.” .
