Lebanonwire.com | Brazil says Hariri murder suspect may be extradited to Lebanon

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March 17, 2006

Brazil says Hariri murder suspect may be extradited to Lebanon

SAO PAULO - A Lebanese women suspected of having financed the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri is in jail pending possible extradition, the Brazilian foreign ministry said Thursday.

Rana Abdul Rahim Qoleilat, 39, who has been accused of financial crimes in Lebanon, was arrested for "active criminality" Sunday in Sao Paulo, the ministry said in a statement.

Qoleilat tried to bribe the arresting police officers, offering them up to 200,000 dollars for her freedom, police said.

The Lebanese government on Wednesday formally requested the arrest of Qoleilat with the purpose of extradition.

It has 60 days to present its justifications, which will be examined by the supreme court to decide whether to grant the request.

A United Nations commission investigating Hariri's murder suspects Qoleilat of providing financial help, directly or indirectly, to the powerful politician's assassins.

Lebanon said Wednesday it would ask Brazil to extradite the suspect, who was arrested Sunday in her hotel room in Sao Paulo on an Interpol warrant relating to bank fraud charges.

Brazil's ambassador to Beirut, Eduardo de Seixas, said after meeting Wednesday with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallouk that while neither country had ratified the extradition treaty they signed in 2002, this did "not constitute an obstacle".

Qoleilat is a former top executive at Lebanon's Al-Madina Bank, which collapsed in 2003 in one of the country's biggest banking scandals.

She fled the country after being released from jail. Interpol accuses Qoleilat of defrauding the bank of 1.2 million dollars.

When she was arrested in Sao Paolo, after police received an anonymous tipoff, she was carrying a false British passport and reportedly tried to bribe police.

But her lawyer said this was a misunderstanding that arose because Qoleilat did not speak Portuguese well.

Hariri was killed along with 20 other people in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005.

UN officials have said intelligence agents from Syria -- the longtime powerbroker in Lebanon -- are a prime suspect in the assassination.

Qoleilat is suspected of having financed Roustom Ghazaleh, the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, as well as Lebanese intelligence services.