Lebanon asks Brazil to extradite ex-bank executive

BEIRUT, Mar 15 (Reuters) Lebanon today asked Brazil to extradite a former top executive at a bank that could be linked to the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, a foreign ministry official said.

Rana Koleilat is wanted in Lebanon on fraud, embezzlement and forgery charges related to the collapse of Bank al-Madina in 2003 and was arrested in Brazil on Sunday.

''Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh directed Lebanon's ambassador to Brazil to ask authorities there to keep Koleilat in custody until the extradition request arrives through the diplomatic courier,'' the Lebanese official said.

A United Nations inquiry into Hariri's murder in February 2005 referred in December to the bank's collapse and said corruption and money laundering could have been motives for the killers.

Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Brazil but Salloukh told Voice of Lebanon radio the possible link to Hariri's assassination could provide a way out.

''The UN Security Council has asked all countries to provide all the help in this case,'' he said.

Judicial sources told Reuters Lebanese authorities do not want Koleilat for any role in Hariri's killing. A spokeswoman for the UN commission in Beirut declined to comment.

The 39-year old Koleilat, who was sought by the international police agency Interpol, was arrested at a hotel in the city of Sao Paulo by police acting on a tip.

She was briefly treated at a Sao Paulo hospital today after police found her in her cell with a cut on her wrist. Police said they were still investigating how she was wounded and that they did not rule out a suicide attempt.

''It wasn't anything too serious. But it's still not clear how she was hurt,'' a police spokesman said.

Koleilat was carrying a false British passport when she was arrested. She also tried to bribe the officers, offering them about 100,000 dollars to let her leave the country, a police spokesman said. She fled Lebanon secretly last year after her release on bail.

The UN report said investigators have ''followed threads leading into Bank al-Madina collapse ... including links to lebanese and Syrian officials and well as Mr. Hariri.'' The inquiry has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the murder. They have all denied any role.

REUTERS SHR KN2318