Oueidat summons Salameh over Interpol notice

State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has scheduled a mid-week session for Central Bank chief Riad Salameh to take measures over the Interpol red notice issued against him, LBCI television reported on Monday.

The French judiciary meanwhile scheduled a May 31 session for the interrogation of Salameh’s brother Raja and a June 13 session for the interrogation of Salameh’s assistant Marianne Hoayek, LBCI added.

Lebanon received the Interpol notice for Salameh on Friday, after he failed to show up in Paris earlier in the week for questioning in a key corruption case.

The Interior Ministry referred the arrest warrant to the judiciary and caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi reportedly said he would enforce it if the Lebanese judiciary asked him to do so.

However, Lebanon is unlikely to comply with the Interpol notice and arrest and hand over Salameh to French authorities. Under the country's laws, Lebanon does not extradite its own citizens. In 2020, it received two Interpol red notices for tycoon Carlos Ghosn, who faced financial misconduct charges in Japan. Ghosn remains in Lebanon.

Judicial sources meanwhile told al-Akhbar newspaper that Oueidat would likely tell France that according to the Lebanese law, Lebanese citizens should be tried in Lebanon. He would not arrest Salameh but would ban him from traveling, the sources said.