A Lebanese judge overseeing a local case against central bank chief Riad Salameh has rejected the defences presented by Salameh's lawyers, a senior judicial source told Reuters on Thursday.

Salameh's lawyers had objected to the presence of another Lebanese judge prosecuting the central bank chief on behalf of the state in a hearing by European investigators in Beirut in March.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alison Williams)