BEIRUT: Lebanon has received an Interpol red notice requesting the arrest of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh after a French magistrate issued a warrant this week.
Salameh, 72, has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment.
Lebanon’s top prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat said he was studying the notice to set a date for Salameh’s hearing next week and take the necessary legal actions.
French Judge Aude Buresi is leading an investigation into allegations of money laundering involving Salameh, particularly the transfer of over $330 million from the Banque du Liban to European banks through Forry Associates, a company owned by Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh.
Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said on Friday that Interpol’s request to arrest Salameh was being seriously discussed by authorities. He demanded Salameh’s resignation.
A judicial source however told Arab News: “The Interior Minister does not have the authority to arrest or dismiss Salameh. Only the Lebanese judiciary can arrest him, and a decision from the Cabinet can accept it.”
The source added that the judiciary “does not have the right to arrest Salameh at this stage because it does not have the necessary documents to do so.”
Judge Oueidat needed to request the file on Salameh from the French judiciary, along with the documents relied upon in the red notice, the source said.
They added: “The judiciary previously requested the file on the Lebanese businessman Carlos Ghosn, who has been pursued in Japan and France on corruption charges since 2019.
“However, the Japanese judiciary did not respond to the Lebanese request, and his file did not reach the Lebanese judiciary.
“Lebanon also made the same request to the French authorities to obtain Ghosn’s file in 2022, but the file has not yet reached Lebanon, despite France sending a judicial team to interrogate Ghosn in Beirut.”
Judge Jean Tannous, who conducted the preliminary investigations as a public prosecution lawyer, said: “Lebanon does not extradite any Lebanese citizen to any foreign country, even if they hold another nationality.
“Therefore, any arrest warrant issued against a Lebanese is not legally enforceable. Instead, Lebanon must try the Lebanese citizen for the criminal acts for which the arrest warrant was issued.”
The Lebanese Cabinet is expected to hold a session next week when caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati returns from the Arab League Summit in Jeddah. If the session takes place and no objections are raised, Salameh’s case will be on the agenda. However, given the cabinet’s caretaker nature and the current presidential vacuum, the outcome remains uncertain.
If Salameh resigns, the first deputy governor would in theory assume his duties. However, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would likely object given that the first deputy is from the Shia sect and the position is officially occupied by a Maronite.
The appointment of the next governor is usually suggested by the Lebanese president, a position that also remains unfilled.
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Interpol asks Lebanon to arrest its central bank chief
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Interpol asks Lebanon to arrest its central bank chief
- Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said on Friday that Interpol’s request to arrest Salameh was being seriously discussed by authorities
- He demanded Salameh’s resignation
Gaza hospital says receives fuel but only for about two days
KHAN YUNIS: A major Gaza hospital that had suspended several services due to diesel shortages said it resumed some operations on Friday after receiving fuel but warned the supplies would only last about two days.
Ravaged by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.
Earlier Friday, a senior official involved in managing the hospital, Ahmed Mehanna, said “most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators.”
“Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics,” he had told AFP, adding that the hospital rented a small generator to keep those services running.
He had warned that a prolonged fuel shortage “would pose a direct threat to the hospital’s ability to deliver basic services.”
Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day, but it only had some 800 liters available.
Later Friday, Mehanna said that “this evening, 2,500 liters of fuel arrived from the World Health Organization, and we immediately resumed operations.”
“This quantity of fuel will last only two and a half days, but we have been promised an additional delivery next Sunday.”
Mohammed Salha, the hospital’s acting director, accused Israeli authorities of deliberately restricting fuel supplies to hospitals in Gaza.
“We are knocking on every door to continue providing services, but while the occupation allows fuel for international institutions, it restricts it for local health facilities such as Al-Awda,” Salha told AFP.
Health hard hit
Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.
While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.
The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people.
Earlier Friday, Khitam Ayada, 30, who has taken refuge in Nuseirat, said she had gone to Al-Awda hospital after days of kidney pain.
But “they told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray... and that they couldn’t treat me,” the displaced woman said.
“We lack everything in our lives, even the most basic medical services,” she told AFP.
Gaza’s health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.
During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.
International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
In Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people — also mostly civilians — have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
These figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Ravaged by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.
Earlier Friday, a senior official involved in managing the hospital, Ahmed Mehanna, said “most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators.”
“Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics,” he had told AFP, adding that the hospital rented a small generator to keep those services running.
He had warned that a prolonged fuel shortage “would pose a direct threat to the hospital’s ability to deliver basic services.”
Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day, but it only had some 800 liters available.
Later Friday, Mehanna said that “this evening, 2,500 liters of fuel arrived from the World Health Organization, and we immediately resumed operations.”
“This quantity of fuel will last only two and a half days, but we have been promised an additional delivery next Sunday.”
Mohammed Salha, the hospital’s acting director, accused Israeli authorities of deliberately restricting fuel supplies to hospitals in Gaza.
“We are knocking on every door to continue providing services, but while the occupation allows fuel for international institutions, it restricts it for local health facilities such as Al-Awda,” Salha told AFP.
Health hard hit
Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.
While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.
The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people.
Earlier Friday, Khitam Ayada, 30, who has taken refuge in Nuseirat, said she had gone to Al-Awda hospital after days of kidney pain.
But “they told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray... and that they couldn’t treat me,” the displaced woman said.
“We lack everything in our lives, even the most basic medical services,” she told AFP.
Gaza’s health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.
During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.
International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
In Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people — also mostly civilians — have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
These figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
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