Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun rejected on Wednesday Raja Salameh’s application to be released from custody, in which the brother of the Banque du Liban governor has been on charges of illicit enrichment since March 17.

Investigative Judge Nicolas Mansour on Thursday ordered the release of Raja Salameh on a bail of LBP 500 billion, but Judge  Aoun appealed against the decision and demanded that he be kept in custody.

Salameh for his part filed an appeal demanding that the bail amount be slashed.

Raja, a businessman who is the brother of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, has been under arrest since March 17 over financial corruption charges.

The Salameh brothers’ assets have been frozen in Lebanon under an order from Judge Aoun in a money laundering case. Aoun says that Riad Salameh had used his brother to buy real-estate in France worth nearly $12 million.

Source: Websites