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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Al Madina Bank Money Laundering Suspects Identified in Lebanon

2007-05-20

State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza has referred 11 suspects purportedly involved in the Al Madina Bank scandal to Beirut Public Prosecutor Joseph Maamari. Lebanese newspapers citing judicial sources, on Saturday said the 11 were believed to have a hand in the case of money laundering at Al Madina Bank in 2003. It identified the suspects as, in addition to former executive secretary of Al Madina scandal heroine Rana Qoleilat, her two brothers -- Taha and Basel Qoleilat -- as well as Adnan Abou Ayyash. Among the names in the report were bank employees Youssef al Hashi, Kazem Bahlawan, Fouad Qahwaji and Rene Kaado Moawwad. Qoleilat, who is facing fraud charges in Lebanon, is jailed in Brazil for allegedly trying to bribe security officers to release her. She was earlier jailed in Lebanon for her supposed role in the disappearance of more than $300 million from Al Madina Bank in 2003. Lebanese press indicates that Adnan Abou Ayyash's brother, Ibrahim Abou Ayyash, and his son, Wissam Ibrahim Abou Ayyash, were also among the suspects. It quoted the sources as saying investigation with this group of suspects will only focus on the issue of money laundering. The suspects reportedly included a person who had a "strong work relationship" with Qoleilat. Qoleilat, who is facing fraud charges in Lebanon, is jailed in Brazil for allegedly trying to bribe security officers to release her. She was earlier jailed in Lebanon for her supposed role in the disappearance of more than $300 million from Al Madina Bank in 2003.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rana Qoleilat claims innocence in TV interview

2006-03-30

Rana Qoleilat, the Al-Madina Bank executive wanted on suspicion of involvement in a banking scandal, said she was innocent of all allegations in her first media appearance Tuesday. The fugitive alleged from her Brazilian prison cell that her ex-husband Adnan Abu Ayyash paid Syria's former intelligence chief in Lebanon Rustom Ghazaleh to have her thrown in jail. In an interview with Brazil's Globo Television, Qoleilat said: "Rustom Ghazaleh was extorting money from rich and influential Lebanese like me." A transcript of the interview was published in Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal Tuesday. "I was jailed because I didn't pay Ghazaleh. It was my ex-husband who paid him to put me in jail," she added. Qoleilat blamed Al-Madina's collapse on Ayyash, who she claims withdrew $490 million to invest in the stock market. "That is when all the troubles began," she said. The couple were married for 10 years from 1992. When Ayyash was unable to return the money, Qoleilat and her family "rushed to his aid" so that he could reimburse the bank's depositors, she added. "When the scandal broke, they started accusing me, when I didn't steal anything. I didn't need to steal because [Ayyash] gave me complete freedom over his private accounts," she said. "He is using his influence to keep me in prison to humiliate me," she said, adding "he threw me in a pit full of rats and garbage."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Grenade found in parking lot of Al-Madina judge

2005-10-06

A hand grenade was found in the parking lot where a prominent Lebanese judge, overseeing a probe into a bank scandal case involving Lebanese and Syrian officials, resides. Police inspected the parking lot of the Flouty and Bassil building, in the Kesrouan area of Sahel Alma, where Judge Nazem Khoury usually parks his Mercedes 180. Police were alerted after the janitor of the building found a hand grenade in a corner of the lot where Khoury parks his car. A military expert in explosives, who was immediately dispatched at the request of the concerned judiciary, revealed that the grenade was Russian made and operable but unequipped for detonation. Khoury, who has been handling the controversial Bank Al-Madina file, has already received numerous death threats resulting in him leaving for Cyprus for three weeks. Bank Al-Madina involves $1.2 billion in swindled deposits attributed by judicial investigators to the bank's executive secretary over the past three years, Rana Qoleilat. Senior Syrian intelligence officers, including the former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, Major General Rustom Ghazaleh, were also reportedly involved. Among other high ranking Syrian officials, Ghazaleh has also been questioned by Detlev Mehlis the head of the UN team investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to discover whether he is involved in the crime. Three branches of Bank Al-Madina have recently been sealed with red wax at Khoury's orders. Jounieh's Internal Security Forces commander, Brigadier General Bahij Watfa listened to the janitor's statement and instructed the criminal investigators to take fingerprints to see if they matched those already taken from Khoury's car four days ago.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Leb generals rollin' in dough...

2005-09-09

A judiciary source said the UN team interrogated a "security officer" about possible links between the four men accused of Hariri's assassination and Al-Madina Bank executive secretary, Rana Qoleilat. Al-Madina bank was closed by a court ruling last year after a scandal involving Syrian and Lebanese officials and money laundering. Local television, citing a financial source, said around $500 million was found in the bank accounts of the officers accused of Hariri's murder. Usually, professional soldiers, even generals, aren't paid quite that well... The source said that each of the four officers possessed around $150 million and that most of the money had been paid into their accounts during the last two years. According to the source, one of the suspected officers possessed only $30 million in Lebanon as he had wired most of his money to accounts abroad a few months before Hariri's assassination. Lebanon's strict banking secrecy laws were "lifted" from the accounts following a request from the UN investigation team in the past few days.

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