A Beirut court on Tuesday ordered the release of former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on bail set at $20 million and 5 billion Lebanese pounds, while imposing a one-year travel ban as part of ongoing legal proceedings against him.

Salameh’s defense team objected to the bail amount, arguing that his assets remain frozen both in Lebanon and abroad.

“We finally obtained this decision, but setting bail in U.S. dollars is illegal,” his lawyer Marc Habka told Lebanese daily Nidaa al-Watan.

The Beirut Indictment Chamber’s ruling marks a new stage in the high-profile case against Salameh, who has faced multiple domestic and international probes into alleged financial misconduct during his three decades at the helm of Banque du Liban. 

The former governor has been at the center of Lebanon’s economic collapse, accused by critics of bearing major responsibility for policies that led to one of the world’s worst financial crises since the 19th century.