In the end, Riad Salameh paid a record bail in cash and in U.S. dollars, while he continues to be pursued in seven countries and his judicial case remains unresolved. Meanwhile, the debate continues over the legitimacy of the bail’s source and its impact on the reputation of the Lebanese judiciary and justice.
The release of former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on bail of $14 million USD has stirred widespread controversy in Lebanon and raised fundamental questions about the source of these funds.
In the last week of August 2025, the Beirut Indictment Chamber issued a decision to release Salameh on bail initially set at $20 million USD. However, it appears that Salameh benefited from the “negotiation skills” of his attorney, Marc Hobeika—who, incidentally, also represents several banking and media institutions close to Salameh, such as MTV—to reduce the bail amount to $14 million USD, as if bargaining in a public marketplace.
Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Judge Jamal Hajjar, meanwhile, signaled his approval of Salameh’s release.
This post by Mounir Younes reads: “Judge Hajjar: I personally checked the 14 million dollars paid by Salameh as bail, and I examined each dollar…Not only did I find out that they were “clean,” they shine of purity and even are flowing of sanctity! … It’s a bit of a heavy joke!”
This tweet by Ghada Aoun reads: “Judge Hajjar says he checked the bail money. Can we know how this happened? This is not related to the investigation’s secrecy. God forbid this bail money is laundered, this scars the entire judiciary’s reputation! I asked of one of the respected parliamentarians to ask this question to the judiciary and the attorney general: How was the 14 million dollars checked to confirmed they were not laundered? How? From the documents shown by the accused? From an uncovering of his accounts? In my opinion, depositors should file a new cause against Riad Salameh for using laundered money should the money truly be laundered.”
In this context, a legal source with deep knowledge of Riad Salameh’s case described the operation to Daraj as “a money-laundering process carried out through the Lebanese state itself.”
According to this source, if the funds used for Salameh’s bail are not justified through an official written document, the judiciary should detain and investigate the lawyer who delivered the money to determine its origin. The source added that should the funds be illicit, depositing them into the state’s accounts as bail and then retrieving them after the legal obligation expires would amount to laundering them.
Salameh’s assets in both Lebanon and Europe have been frozen for nearly two years. He has been under U.S., Canadian, and British sanctions since 2023, in addition to being subject to an Interpol red notice.
The most likely scenario is that the bail amount was paid from cash reserves available inside Lebanon. The first possibility is that Salameh had been hoarding large sums of cash at home, which would reveal how the architect of Lebanon’s financial collapse managed to protect himself at a time when ordinary Lebanese depositors were receiving only scraps of their stolen savings.
The second possibility is that one of the private banks that repeatedly benefited from Riad Salameh’s connections and favors may have covered the bail amount in cash—potentially SGBL Bank, headed by Antoun Sehnaoui, one of the most influential figures in the Lebanese banking sector, who is currently leading the banks’ defense on multiple fronts. Other banks could also have been involved.
The economist and university professor Mohammad Farida wrote on his page: “On August 10, 2023, OFAC (the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control) designated Riad Salameh and several of his close associates under Executive Order 13441 for corrupt and unlawful actions contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon.
Through this designation:
All property and interests in property within the U.S. (or in the possession or control of U.S. persons) belonging to Salameh or his designated associates must be blocked (i.e., frozen) and reported to OFAC.”
In general, U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with Riad Salameh or with any entities that he owns or controls—directly or indirectly—by 50 percent or more. Entities that are 50 percent or more owned by sanctioned individuals are likewise considered “blocked” or “prohibited.”
This U.S. action was coordinated with the United Kingdom and Canada, both of which also imposed similar sanctions on Salameh and his close associates.
And yet, despite all these restrictions, Salameh managed to pay $14,000,000 in cash as bail.
This raises the central question: Where did the money Riad Salameh paid to the Lebanese state for his release come from?
Former Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun posed this very question on her X account:
“How can the release of the accused, Riad Salameh, be accepted if the bail money itself results from money laundering? This is extremely dangerous, as it completely destroys Lebanon’s reputation and credibility before the international community—and undermines the integrity of the judiciary.”
Judge Aoun added that the bail paid “by the accused, through his attorney, was likely, or almost certainly, derived from illicit funds.” She then outlined several possible scenarios for the source of the money:
1. Funds obtained during his tenure as Central Bank Governor; illicit gains resulting from embezzlement and already under seizure.
2. Funds provided by a Lebanese bank, which would also constitute illegal money.
3. Funds drawn from his account at the Central Bank, a scenario she described as “extremely serious if it occurred.”
4. Funds transferred from abroad via the airport, which would again be illicit.
This post by the Depositors Union reads: The release of the architect of stealing depositors’ money, Riad Salameh, is an insult to all Lebanese people, and a huge contradictrion of the department’s speech and the ministerial statement. As long as the judiciary violates the trust it was granted, the depositor has no option but to go back to the hand of the oppressed and his conscience.
In the end, Riad Salameh paid a record bail in cash and in U.S. dollars, while he continues to be pursued in seven countries and his judicial case remains unresolved. Meanwhile, the debate continues over the legitimacy of the bail’s source and its impact on the reputation of the Lebanese judiciary and justice.
