State Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud ordered on Saturday the arrest of Lebanese businessman Bahij Abou Hamza in the lawsuit that had been presented by Elwood Finance Inc, a company owned by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt.
On November 13, Beirut's Accusatory Body chaired by Judge Nada Dakroub issued a decision to release Bahij Abou Hamza who has been arrested for 4 months over a financial accounts case at one of the Lebanese banks.
Beirut First Investigative Judge Ghassan Oueidat had issued an indictment in the aforementioned case and referred Abou Hamza to the Beirut individual Criminal Judge for trial.
Judge Oueidat agreed to release Abou Hamza on bail of L.L. 20 million but the latter appealed the decision before the Accusatory Body that set him free.
Several months ago, Lebanese businessman Bahij Abou Hamza was interrogated by Judge Oueidat who issued an arrest warrant against him on the backdrop of a lawsuit filed by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt on charges of embezzlement of funds.
In December 2013, Jumblatt’s lawyers, Walid Sfeir and Hussam Rasbey, filed two lawsuits against Bahij Abou Hamza before Judge Oueidat. One of the complaints focuses on a land dispute.
Abou Hamza is a leading businessman who at one point held close relations with Jumblatt. He once ran the PSP chief’s real estate deeds and managed Jumblatt's private properties. Abou Hamza was also the former head of the Association of Oil Importing Companies.
But the relations between the two men have cooled significantly in recent months, when MP Jumblatt relieved Abou Hamza of his duties after almost 30 years of service.
In one of the lawsuits filed by Jumblatt, he accuses Abou Hamza and Hussein Bdeir, a Shiite businessman, of selling him a piece of land that did not actually exist, sources reported.
The PSP leader said he was the victim of “organized fraud,” and accused Abou Hamza and Bdeir of taking advantage of the fact that he was busy with politics and social obligations in order to dupe him.
Later the same month, Abou Hamza’s lawyers presented petitions asking Jumblatt to drop the lawsuits.