Beirut Indictment Chamber Dismisses Prosecution Against Former BDL Governor Riad Salameh

The legal counsel for the former Governor of Banque du Liban, Attorney Wassim El Ghaoui, issued the following statement:
On 14 July 2026, the Beirut Indictment Chamber dismissed the prosecution of the former Governor of Banque du Liban, Mr. Riad Salameh, on the felony charge of undermining the Constitution under Article 301 of the Lebanese Penal Code. The proceedings arose from a direct criminal complaint filed by Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, following the indictment decision issued on 18 June 2026 by the Beirut Investigating Judge, President Roula Safir. In that decision, the Investigating Judge held that the former Governor’s public statements reassuring the public regarding the stability of the Lebanese pound constituted the felony of undermining the Lebanese Constitution, and that the loss suffered by any bank depositor with respect to his or her deposits likewise constituted the felony of undermining the Constitution.
The indictment decision, which had been published in the media and described as a judicial achievement, constituted a dangerous judicial precedent devoid of any legal foundation, as it attributed responsibility for the financial crisis personally to the former Governor of Banque du Liban and considered every depositor in Lebanese banks to be the victim of the felony of undermining the Constitution, for which the former Governor was allegedly personally and criminally liable.
The Beirut Indictment Chamber applied exclusively the applicable law and established principles of criminal justice, thereby restoring the matter to its proper legal and judicial framework by dismissing the prosecution of the former Governor of Banque du Liban, Mr. Riad Salameh, on the grounds that the essential constituent elements of the alleged offence were absent. In doing so, it prevented the indictment decision from becoming a dangerous precedent under which every offence against property, such as theft, breach of trust, embezzlement, or fraud, would be deemed to constitute the felony of undermining the Constitution.