Rania Shakhtoura - Akhbar Al Yawm
Riad Salameh series - Judiciary, specifically with Judge Ghada Aoun, seems that its end is still far away, as the rosary of decisions and memos has lasted for many months... If the governor of the Central Bank is indeed a perpetrator and there is firm evidence against him, why has he not yet been arrested... Or are we facing a political series, complicated by political tension!
Everyone in Lebanon supports the impartial judiciary and the prosecution of perpetrators to try them and hold them accountable, but the main question in the file of Banque du Liban and its governor is what are the mechanisms adopted by the Attorney General of Mount Lebanon, Judge Ghada Aoun? Is it legal, scientific, banking, or political, if it is legal, why did not move before it, the government commissioner at Banque du Liban Crystal Wakim, who did not issue any report indicating flaws in the governor's performance?
Returning to the arrest warrant travel ban by sea, land, and air issued by Judge Aoun against Salameh based on the complaint submitted by the legal department of the group "The People Want Reform the System" represented by lawyers Haytham Ezzo and Pierre Gemayel. Aoun also explained in a statement that as a public prosecutor, we always apply the principle that every innocent person until proven guilty, but to preserve the evidence, issued a travel ban.
In this context, a judicial source warns that preventing the governor of Banque du Liban from traveling is very dangerous, hitting the external financial confidence in Lebanon, as to how can any external official at the financial level deal with Lebanese financial institutions after everything?
The source stresses the need for judges to make their decisions wisely, especially since the governor of the Central Bank has protection and control under the constitution, the source explains through Akhbar Al Yawm that the protection of evidence is not linked to the person but to the institution, in the sense that all banking operations are not registered in the mind of Riad Salameh, but Banque du Liban.
In response to a question, the source considers that Aoun and Wakim, and therefore can the claimant of Mount Lebanon summon Wakim? Explaining if there is evidence that the governor of the Banque du Liban embezzled and manipulated the lira, Vine has been the government commissioner all this time, while the government commissioner is supposed to monitor the performance of the central bank governor and whether he has committed or breached his duties.
In this context, he points out that the Commissioner of Government must be an expert judge in financial affairs, sorry that this position is filled per political developments, and states that the Commissioner of Government has the authority to claim on the basis that all operations pass through him.
Here, the source stressed the need to follow the sequence in filing any lawsuit, and in the file of the governor of Banque du Liban, has there been an investigation with the government commissioner and has the committee for the supervision of banks, whose observations are usually taken accountable?... Before reaching judicial decisions against the governor.
One of the questions asked by the judicial source is also: Is Judge Ghada Aoun, Attorney General of Mount Lebanon, specialized in financial operations? Is she well versed in banking, who are the experts you hired? We all mention the case of the Mkattaf Foundation to transfer the money from which Aoun fabricated a media case and at the end.