Forensic audit report implications: Justice Minister's approach to report revelations

On August 16, Justice Minister Henry Khoury presented news related to the forensic audit report, urging the General Prosecutor of the Cassation Court to refer the implicated individuals mentioned in the report to the competent criminal judiciary.

Responding swiftly, the Prosecutor General did not delay, taking five days to review the legal aspects and then making the decision to refer the cases to three entities: the Financial Prosecutor's Office, the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Beirut, and the Special Investigation Commission at the Banque du Liban (BDL).

Each entity will conduct the necessary investigations within its jurisdiction.

This decision by General Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has stirred controversy within some judicial sources, with interpretations ranging from fragmented investigation to deliberate attenuation.

However, well-placed sources within the General Prosecutor's Office dismiss these interpretations, describing them as baseless.

According to these sources, Oueidat has distributed the cases to relevant judicial bodies responsible for the forensic audit, such as the Appellate Prosecutor's Office handling the investigation into Riad Salameh's case and the Financial Prosecutor's Office overseeing cases related to mismanagement in the electricity sector and corruption in public administrations.

These sources affirm that the acting BDL Governor, Wassim Mansour, has committed to full cooperation with the Prosecutor General and that any party invoking banking secrecy is no longer tenable after the enactment of the banking secrecy law.

However, despite these developments, some consider that Oueidat may have made a strategic mistake by relinquishing the investigation into the forensic audit report, which initially began under his office about Salameh, subsequently distributing it to other public prosecutors.

The initial ripple in the case came with the request from Beirut's Appellate Prosecutor General, Ziad Abou Haidar, to retreat from the case, indicating that the investigation into the forensic audit report would be handled by Judge Raja Hamoush, who was primarily investigating another case related to Salameh.

Who will dare to conclude the investigation that, according to judicial sources, will reveal those who manipulated the BDL's budget and profited at the expense of the state and depositors' funds?