The head of the Litigation Authority at the Ministry of Justice, Judge Helena Iskander, denied the reports in the newspapers indicating that she left the investigation session with the defendant, former Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh, due to disagreements with the presiding investigative judge in Beirut, Judge Charbel Abu Samra. She clarified that she asked around 50 questions of the defendant through the presiding judge, from 10:45 AM until 1:15 PM. She confirmed to the investigating judge that she had no further questions and requested that the file be referred to the public prosecution for their opinion, if there were no more questions to be posed to the defendant.
She mentioned that "the investigation session ended and the minutes were signed by the parties involved; she signed on behalf of the plaintiff, the Lebanese state, with the state's lawyer Bertha Naim, after which Riad Salameh and his attorney left the Palace of Justice."
She added, "After that, Judge Abu Samra wanted to continue the investigation with the other defendants, Raja Salameh and Marianne Hawi, but I requested a postponement of their investigation to a later session to conduct it thoroughly. Judge Abu Samra decided to postpone the session to 10/8/2023, considering Raja Salameh and Marianne Hawi as notified of the session date because Salameh had left, and therefore he was not summoned again for the investigation. It was necessary to seek the opinion of the public prosecution regarding his detention or release after concluding the investigation with him, which necessitated filing an appeal before the prosecutorial authority that annulled the investigating judge's decision."
