Lebanon’s judiciary has approved the release of former central bank governor Riad Salameh on bail, setting the highest financial guarantee in the country’s history at more than 20 million US dollars.
Salameh, who has been detained for nearly a year on embezzlement charges, will be freed once the bail is paid, according to a judicial source quoted by Agence France-Presse.
The indictment panel, chaired by Judge Nassib Elias, imposed a bail of $ 20 million, along with five billion Lebanese pounds, and ordered a one-year travel ban starting from the execution of the decision.
Lebanese prosecutors accuse the former governor of misappropriating 44 million US dollars from the central bank’s funds during his three-decade tenure.
The case against Salameh, who led Banque du Liban from 1993 until 2023, is seen as a landmark test of Lebanon’s judiciary amid the country’s ongoing financial collapse.
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