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Lebanon Cenbank Governor Says He Will Appeal against French Arrest Warrant

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during an interview for Reuters Next conference, in Beirut, Lebanon November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during an interview for Reuters Next conference, in Beirut, Lebanon November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Cenbank Governor Says He Will Appeal against French Arrest Warrant

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during an interview for Reuters Next conference, in Beirut, Lebanon November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during an interview for Reuters Next conference, in Beirut, Lebanon November 23, 2021. (Reuters)

French prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, a move the governor said he would challenge through an appeal, calling it a violation of law.

The warrant was issued after Salameh failed to attend a hearing in Paris where prosecutors had been expected to press preliminary fraud and money laundering charges against him.

Salameh said in a statement he would appeal against the warrant. He accused the French investigative judge Aude Buresi of taking a decision based on "presumptuous ideas", saying "this is justice based on double standards".

The governor, alongside his brother and an assistant, are being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the central bank to the detriment of the state.

French prosecutors had set a hearing for him at 9:30 a.m. on May 16, according to court documents seen by Reuters. French prosecutors intend to press the preliminary charges and formally name him a suspect during that hearing.

Two sources with knowledge of his travel plans told Reuters on Tuesday that Salameh had remained in Beirut. Neither Salameh nor his lawyer in Lebanon responded to requests for comment from Reuters.

A French lawyer for Salameh said French prosecutors didn’t follow the rules upon summoning the central bank governor to France.

"By having notified the summons less than 10 days before the scheduled date of the interrogation, the rules were not respected," the lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, told Reuters. "The summons is therefore null and void."

The office of French prosecutors didn't respond to a message seeking comment.

A senior judicial source said Lebanon's judiciary was unable to deliver the summons to attend the Paris hearing as it was addressed to Salameh at the Central Bank and he was unavailable to receive it.

Another judicial source said the defense attorneys for the Salamehs and for the central bank chief's assistant Marianne Hoayek had submitted an objection to Lebanon's judiciary over the French case, saying France should not be allowed to try a case already being investigated in Lebanon.

The three have been charged in two separate cases in Lebanon. Riad and Raja Salameh have denied diverting public funds and neither Hoayek nor her lawyer have spoken publicly about the charges.

Lebanon's top public prosecutor said in January that Beirut could delay cooperating with foreign investigations pending progress on the local probes.

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Report: Western Powers Warn Syria over Foreign Fighters in Army

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters in Damascus. (Reuters)
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters in Damascus. (Reuters)
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Report: Western Powers Warn Syria over Foreign Fighters in Army

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters in Damascus. (Reuters)
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters in Damascus. (Reuters)

US, French and German envoys have warned Syria's new rulers that their appointment of foreign fighters to senior military posts is a security concern and bad for their image as they try to forge ties with foreign states, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The warning from the US, part of Western efforts to get Syria's new leaders to reconsider the move, was delivered in a meeting between US envoy Daniel Rubinstein and Syria's de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday at the presidential palace overlooking Damascus, a US official said.

"These appointments will not help them with their reputation in the US," the official said.

The foreign ministers of France and Germany, Jean-Noel Barrot and Annalena Baerbock, also broached the issue of foreign fighters drafted into the army during their meeting with Sharaa on Jan. 3, an official aware of the talks said.

Reuters reported the appointments on Dec. 30. The envoys' comments on the appointments have not previously been reported.

Sharaa's armed group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led an offensive that ousted former president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 and has since installed a government and disbanded the Assad-era army. It is now making efforts to reconstitute the armed forces.

Late last year, it made nearly 50 appointments including at least six foreign fighters, among them Chinese and central Asian Uyghurs, a Turkish citizen, an Egyptian and a Jordanian, Reuters reported at the time.

Three were given the rank of brigadier-general and at least three others the rank of colonel, a Syrian military source said.

HTS and allied groups have hundreds of foreign fighters in their ranks who came to Syria during the country's 13-year civil war, many of them followers of hardline interpretations of Islam.

Foreign capitals generally view foreign fighters as a key security threat as they suspect that some may seek to carry out attacks in their home countries after gaining experience abroad.

Officials of the new Syrian administration have said foreign fighters made sacrifices to help overthrow Assad and would have a place in Syria, adding they could be granted citizenship.

The Syrian defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The German foreign ministry did not comment.

A State Department spokesperson said Washington is in a continuing dialogue with the interim authorities in Damascus.

"Discussions have been constructive and have covered a wide range of domestic and international issues," the spokesperson said, adding there has been "tangible progress on counter-terrorism priorities, including ISIS."

The US official and a Western source said that Damascus explained the appointments of foreign fighters by saying they could not simply be sent back home or abroad where they may face persecution, and it was better to keep them in Syria.

The US official said authorities also explained that these people had helped rid Syria of Assad and some had been in the country for more than 10 years and so were part of society.