Germany cancels arrest warrant for Riad Salameh, but charges remain

The German judiciary has been investigating Lebanon's former central bank chief over charges including forgery and money laundering since 2021

Riad Salameh holding a news briefing as Lebanon's Central Bank Governor in Beirut in December 2018. Reuters

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Germany has cancelled its arrest warrant for Lebanon's former central bank governor, Riad Salameh, his lawyer has told The National.

Yet legal experts say the original charges against Mr Salameh remain unchanged.

Details of the decision issued on June 10, based on an appeal by Mr Salameh, have yet to be released, lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur added.

Since 2021, the German judiciary has been conducting money laundering investigations into Lebanon's central bank chief from 1993 to 2023, on charges including forgery, money laundering and embezzlement.

Anne Leiding, the press spokeswoman for the Munich I Public Prosecutor's Office, on Wednesday confirmed to The National the annulment of the arrest warrant after an appeal by the defendant.

While stressing "the strong suspicion with regard to the offences charged against the defendant", Ms Leiding added that because Mr Salameh no longer held the position of central bank chief, there was "no longer any risk that he will suppress evidence in this function".

In May 2023, Germany's public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Mr Salameh, resulting in an Interpol red notice. This came a week after France issued an arrest warrant for him when he failed to attend a hearing in Paris.

Lebanon does not extradite its citizens.

Mr Salameh is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for having siphoned off more than $330 million from the Banque Du Liban (BDL) with the help of his brother Raja.

In July last year, The National revealed the full extent of the prosecution case against Mr Salameh. Previously unseen documents, obtained by The National from two independent sources, detailed the alleged laundering scheme and money flow into Europe and the US, companies allegedly created to execute the plan and the accomplices he is said to have used. The documents also revealed the extent of a vast property empire he now controls.

The brothers denied any wrongdoing.

German and other European prosecutors have visited Beirut several times to quiz the Salameh brothers, alleged accomplices and witnesses.

Procedural reasons

Legal experts have suggested that the decision to cancel the arrest warrant is motivated by procedural reasons unrelated to the charges themselves.

This means that Mr Salameh remains under investigation in Germany for the same charges.

One assumption is that Mr Salameh used the travel ban issued by Lebanon as a legitimate reason for not appearing at his hearing abroad, thereby showing that he is not actively evading judicial proceedings.

“If a person is banned from travelling, they are excused for not appearing before a foreign judge, which allows the Court of Appeal to cancel any in absentia arrest warrant issued against them,” wrote Jean Tannous on Tuesday. Mr Tannous is the Lebanese judge who first led the investigation into Mr Salameh.

“The cancellation has no effect on the charges,” he added

In May 2023, Charbel Abou Samra, Beirut's first investigating judge, who was later entrusted with the Salameh file in Lebanon, confiscated Mr Salameh's passports and banned him from leaving the country, a move that, according to Lebanese lawyer Karim Daher, de facto “protected” the former governor.

“This was probably the argument used for the annulment,” said Mr Daher.

Mr Daher said that he does not believe a similar annulment could occur with the French warrant because the French judge in charge of the case issued it before the travel ban.

“It's purely procedural, nothing has changed substantively in the case; proof of this is that the seizure of his assets was maintained in Europe despite Mr Salameh's repeated appeals,” Mr Daher added.

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized more than $130 million of assets linked to the governor of Lebanon's central bank throughout Europe.

In July 2023, The Paris Court of Appeal upheld seizure orders, despite a plea from Mr Salameh's legal team to release the assets.

The annulment of the warrant is unlikely to have an impact on the seizure orders.

Lebanese judge Helena Iskandar, president of the cases authority at the Ministry of Justice, said on Monday that “the cancellation of the arrest warrant does not negatively affect the seizure of the defendant's funds and property in Germany”.

Beyond the Headlines, August 2023: Riad Salameh's fall from grace