Deadly Beirut port blast chief investigator told to step down
The development is likely to further delay the investigation into the horrific explosion that killed more than 200 people, wounded over 6,000 and disfigured much of Beirut
Lebanon’s highest court on Thursday asked the chief prosecutor investigating last year’s massive Beirut port explosion to step down, following legal challenges by senior officials he had accused of negligence that led to the blast, a judicial official and the country’s official news agency said.
The Court of Cassation called for a new investigating judge to be appointed to lead the probe, nearly six months ater it had started.
The development is likely to further delay the investigation into the horrific explosion that killed more than 200 people, wounded over 6,000 and disfigured much of Beirut.
The explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history, has been one of the most traumatic national experiences the Lebanese have faced.
Family members of those killed had been sceptical of a transparent and independent investigation into the Aug.4 explosion, in a country where a culture of impunity has prevailed for decades.
The lead prosecutor, Judge Fadi Sawwan, had accused and summoned for questioning Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and three former ministers on suspicion of negligence that led to the deadly explosion.
Two of the former ministers challenged Sawwan in court in December, accusing him of violating legal and constitutional procedures and asking that he be recused. Last month, the Court of Cassation had asked Sawwan to resume his work while it looks into the complaints.
On Wednesday, he summoned the third former minister for questioning. The minister tweeted that he would not show up.
Details of the court’s decision were not made public. A judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the office of the atorney general had received a copy of the decision. The official said all summoning now are off since Sawwan has been asked to step down.
According to the law, the minister of justice now has to propose a new lead investigator, before a government-appointed judicial body signs off on the nomination.
Sawwan’s appointment process itself was considered opaque and the investigation, so far secret, has been tainted with political interference, Human Rights Watch has said. Two judges named by the justice minister before Sawwan were rejected without an explanation by the body in charge of approving the selection.
The families of the victims had welcomed Sawwan’s decision to summon senior officials, saying no senior politician should be spared.
Ater the decision was announced, Kayan Tleis, whose 40-year-old-brother was killed in the blast, said Sawwan was up against major political actors.
“We had put a lot of hope in Judge Sawwan. But there were lots of political pressure on him, and once he started summoning senior officials, it was likely they would get rid of him or take the file away,” Tleis said.
Separately, it was reported that paralysed by financial crisis and riven with political risk, a number of Lebanon’s banks are struggling to meet a central bank target to raise their capital defences by 20% by the end of this month.
Less than half of the country’s dozen or so large banks are expected to meet the requirement, which the central bank set in August to reinforce the sector, according to four banking sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Those that are on track to meet central bank targets have largely tapped existing shareholders or depositors, converting local dollar deposits into equity instruments or sold overseas businesses.
The situation underscores the scale of the problem facing Lebanon’s banks, heavily exposed to one of the world’s most indebted states and starved of funding. Their customers have largely been frozen out of their dollar deposits and blocked from transferring cash abroad since late 2019.
Given the wall of losses facing the sector, some investors and economists say it’s too litle too late anyway.
The 20% target laid down by Riad Salameh, Lebanon’s veteran central bank governor, is equivalent to around $4 billion, he confirmed. That is far short of the $83 billion hole in banks’ balance sheets estimated by the outgoing government last year as part of a financial rescue plan it had drawn up.