Contacts between State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat and judicial authorities in France, Germany and Luxembourg have led to an settlement on a mechanism by which judicial delegations from the three international locations will query banking officers in Beirut in a cash laundering case associated to Central Financial institution Governor Riad Salameh, media experiences mentioned.
The Oueidat-European talks have led to “introducing important modifications to the mission of the European delegation,” Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Saturday.
The European groups are looking for to interrogate Salameh, Central Financial institution officers and the house owners of main Lebanese banks, the each day mentioned.
The investigation is geared toward figuring out the sources of Salameh’s property in European banks and financial transactions that occurred from Lebanon over the previous years.
A senior Lebanese judicial official instructed Asharq al-Awsat that “all of the discrepancies between the Lebanese and European sides have been completely resolved and an settlement has been reached on unifying the measures and the investigations mechanism.”
“The 2 sides agreed that the interrogation classes will probably be held on the fundamental corridor of the Court docket of Cassation on the Justice Palace in Beirut, within the presence of judges from the Lebanese public prosecution who will personally undertake the mission of interrogation and reciting the questions that the European judges will carry, within the presence of those (European) judges,” the official added.
Revealing that the primary spherical of interrogations will kick off on Monday, the official mentioned that 16 people, who don’t embody Salameh, will probably be questioned over a interval of 5 days. “It is going to contain senior Central Financial institution officers and the administrators of Lebanese banks,” the official added.
Oueidat had on Friday met at his workplace with delegations from the French and German embassies to debate the preparations and the delegations additionally inspected the corridor of the Court docket of Cassation wherein the interrogations will happen.
Talking to Asharq al-Awsat, judicial sources expressed their reduction over the developments, stressing that “there will probably be cooperation with any international investigation into the monetary information.”
