Salameh Hits Back at Judge Aoun, Says He Will Expose 'Falsifiers'

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Thursday hit out at Mount Lebanon Attorney General Judge Ghada Aoun over recent actions and tweets.

Noting that he had received an invitation to be interrogated by Aoun on January 13, Salameh noted that he filed a recusal lawsuit against her on January 12.

“She is obliged to stop looking into the case until the competent judicial authority rules on this request,” the governor said in a statement.

“I respect the law and the judiciary and I showed that in the previous period through appearing reportedly before judges, despite being convinced that the lawsuits filed against me were unjust and only aimed at tarnishing my image in the eyes of the public opinion in Lebanon and abroad,” Salameh added.

Lamenting that Aoun “has repeatedly and aggressively tweeted negative expressions” and “issued Twitter verdicts” against him, Salameh decried that the judge has “expressed her readiness to testify” against him in Liechtenstein and has also “sent memos breaching the norms to the French judiciary.”

“According to the simplest legal rules, a judge cannot be a rival and a referee at the same time, and it has become clear that there are political reasons behind all these lawsuits that are being filed by the same individuals,” the governor added.

“The preparations for this campaign kicked off in 2016 and were based on forged financial documents. I have filed a lawsuit in France, where a witness exposed the names of those involved in this falsification, and we will soon unveil their names and show how they have forged documents to hint that I have embezzled $2 billion from the central bank,” Salameh went on to say.