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Bitar told Reuters on Wednesday that Oweidat "had no right" to file the charge or release detainees because Oueidat himself was charged over the explosion. Oweidat told Reuters he had summoned Bitar for questioning but did not say whether he had charged him. Oweidat had earlier recused himself from any involvement in the blast probe as Bitar had issued an arrest warrant for his brother-in-law, former public works minister Ghazi Zeaiter. "Instead of me appearing before him, he'll be appearing before me," Oweidat told Reuters by text message. He met with French investigators visiting Beirut last week as part of a French probe into the explosion, whose victims included two French nationals.

You feel like he's on a solo mission," Tania Daou-Alam, who lost her husband in the blast, told Reuters. Bitar went on to file his own charges against several top politicians, including former ministers allied to Hezbollah. Bitar, a devout Catholic from Akkar region of the north, has charged officials from across the sectarian spectrum including Shi'ites, Sunnis and Christians. "I said from the start 'the right person is in the right place'," he added, describing Bitar as just with no political affiliations. William Noun, who lost his brother in the blast, said of Bitar's move: "This is very much a judicial uprising".

BEIRUT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Lebanese bankers told European prosecutors they believed that commissions now at the centre of a graft probe had been paid to the central bank, four sources said, while investigators suspect the cash illegally ended up with the governor's brother. They suspect central bank governor Riad Salameh and his brother Raja illegally took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015 and invested some of the funds in Europe. The bankers and officials told the visiting European prosecutors that they were not aware that the funds had gone to Forry Associates, the four sources said. The four sources said former central bank officials and private bankers had told the European prosecutors they first heard of Forry Associates when the investigation began and the name appeared in the media. A separate but related Lebanese probe charged Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment in March, which he has denied.

BEIRUT, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Lebanon plans to slash its official exchange rate, replacing the 1,507 per dollar rate adopted 25 years ago with a rate of 15,000 in a step towards unifying numerous exchange rates, the finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday. The Lebanese pound has plunged by more than 95% from the official rate since Lebanon fell into financial crisis three years ago, with dollars currently changing hands at around 38,000 on a parallel market. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"The goal is for there to be a unification of the exchange rates in Lebanon," Finance Minister Youssef Khalil said, calling the decision a "fundamental step" in that direction. Unifying the numerous exchange rates operating in the country is one of several conditions set by the IMF for Lebanon to secure a badly needed aid package. Khalil noted that unification of the exchange rates was an IMF demand, but added it was also something that must happen regardless, saying the government was taking a gradual approach.

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