The Chief of the Lebanese Central Bank, Riad Salameh, is expected to appear today before State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat at the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, after an Interpol 'red notice' was issued on May 19. If Salameh appears today, it is expected that his Lebanese and French passports will be confiscated to prevent his flight from accusations of bank fraud, embezzlement of more than $330 million, and money laundering. Oueidat seeks to hear Salameh in his defense of the charges.
On May 23, Germany informed the Lebanese Ministry of Justice they also had issued an arrest warrant for Salameh, following the Interpol warrant, and the May 16 arrest warrant issued by France after he failed to appear at a hearing in Paris. Legal experts have said that in any other country, this would mean Salameh would be picked-up, but not so in Lebanon.
Salameh, his brother Raja Salameh, and his assistant Marianne Hoayek are being investigated in Lebanon, France, Germany, Switzerland, and a host of other European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions in funds from the Lebanese Central Bank.
Yesterday, the defiant Salameh called the French investigation flawed because it was not done confidentially, but publicly. Salameh would prefer the investigation be behind closed doors, underground, or disappear.
Before his scheduled hearing in Paris last week, a Lebanese judge was unable to locate Salameh to deliver the summons. Based on that evasion, many feel Salameh has already left the country to evade the long arm of the law.
Oueidat will study the charges, and Salameh's defense, and issue a report to the Minister of Justice Henry Khoury, who may then decide to extradite Salameh and refer that request to the Council of Ministers, who would need to approve an extradition decree. In the end, Salameh's freedom lies in the hands of the Lebanese Ministers, and most political experts are betting Salameh will be protected by that elite group of people who hold his fate in their powerful hands.
Khoury called for the bank governor to resign on May 22, saying his presence at the Bank "could have repercussions on the monetary situation of Lebanon", and two political groups have joined the call for Salameh to resign, the Free Patriotic Movement, and the Lebanese Forces. Saade Chami, Lebanon's caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, has also called for Salameh's resignation.
Khoury has said that Lebanon does not automatically extradite citizens facing charges but first will conclude its investigation, and there is no extradition treaty between France and Lebanon. This offers Salameh legal protection even though Interpol has requested his arrest.
The worst that can happen to Salameh would be to investigate his charges at the Ministry of Justice, and then to proceed to trial if the Office of the Public Prosecutor for Discrimination decides the accusations are true. Salameh's latest six-year term ends in July, and he has refused to step down early.
France has also summoned Raja, and Hoayek for hearings on May 31 and June 13 respectively.
Why he will not be arrested
Lebanon's political elite continues to protect Salameh, and his freedom is in their hands. Powerful figures including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri have supported Salameh at the helm of the bank for decades. Most importantly, the US Ambassador has said in the past that removing Salameh is a red line.
Regardless of the increasing calls for Salameh's resignation among top officials, Mikati has never voiced an opinion. After 30 years as bank chief, Salameh holds the secrets, and the documentation to sink several political ships.
The Lebanese cabinet of ministers met with Mikati presiding after the French issued the arrest warrant for Salameh. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said the meeting was a discussion of the Salameh charges, and an assessment of the opinions of the various political blocs, which in Lebanon translates into sectarian parties, led in many cases by surviving warlords of the 1975-90 civil war. The Lebanese ruling elite are mega-wealthy families who have pulled the country down by their greed and corruption, and left millions of Lebanese citizens well below the poverty line, and next to starvation.
Legal experts have said that Lebanon's cabinet has the authority to dismiss a governor based on the Code of Money and Credit, without formal accusations, especially in cases involving serious misconduct. But Salameh holds damning secrets against many in power, and this has provided him with a safety net.
Ali Darwich, a former MP affiliated with Mikati, told a Gulf media that "no decision will be taken regarding Salameh's resignation until his mandate expires at the end of July unless formal accusations are issued in Lebanon".
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