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.
Interpol asks Lebanon to arrest its central bank chief
https://arab.news/68rww
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
Palestinians attempt to use Gaza’s Rafah Border crossing amidst delays
- The Rafah Crossing opened to a few Palestinians in each direction last week, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening
CAIRO: Palestinians on both sides of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which opened last week for the first time since 2024, were making their way to the border on Sunday in hopes of crossing, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The opening comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.
The Rafah Crossing opened to a few Palestinians in each direction last week, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening. Over the first four days of the crossing’s opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to United Nations data.
Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that they say is not available in the war-shattered territory. The few who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.
A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.
Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he was building traditional bathrooms in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.
On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.
“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”
The Israeli defense branch that oversees the operation of the crossing did not immediately confirm the opening.
A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing border to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.
Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing’s operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.
The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal that stopped the war between Israel and Hamas. Amid confusion around the reopening, the Rafah crossing was closed Friday and Saturday.
The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only crossing not controlled by Israel prior to the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.
Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — along with two companions for each — would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people than expected have crossed in both directions.
