Documentary maker links businessmen with Syria ties to chemicals that exploded in Beirut
Three businessmen who are under US sanctions for providing support to the Syrian government since the outbreak of war there have links to a company that bought the chemicals blamed for the port explosion in Beirut in August, an investigation found.
Syrian-Russian citizens George Haswani and brothers Imad and Mudalal Khuri formerly directed or served at companies with the same address as Savaro Ltd, Lebanese documentary filmmaker Firas Hatoum said.
Savaro was the shell company that in 2013 bought the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that ended up at Beirut port that year, he said
In 2015, Mr Haswani was put under US sanctions for “materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the government of Syria”. Mudalal Khuri was accused of serving as “an intermediary between [Syrian central bank official] Batoul Rida and a Russian firm on an attempted procurement of ammonium nitrate in late 2013”.
A year later, Imad Khuri was designated for “materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of his brother”.
The revelations raised questions about the final intended recipient of the chemicals that exploded on August 4, killing more than 192 people.
Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab cast suspicion over the investigation when he said last year that the FBI had found that less than a quarter of the chemicals claimed to have been responsible for the explosion at the port had exploded.
He backtracked, saying that was based on unofficial reports.
Mr Diab was one of four officials charged with negligence by the judge investigating the explosion.
His indictment fuelled political tension between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who called the indictment an attack on the post of prime minister, a position reserved for Sunni Muslims under Lebanon’s power-sharing system.
The investigation has since been suspended pending a ruling by the Supreme Court on a request from two of the four indicted officials that the case be transferred to another judge.
This week, the Supreme Court gave approval for the investigation to proceed but has yet to rule on the transfer case.
Five months after the explosion, it is unclear why the chemicals were held at Beirut port for so long, raising suspicions that Lebanon was the destination of the cargo rather than Mozambique, the officially listed destination.
Last week, Interpol issued alerts for the Russian owner of the ship, and his compatriot, the captain who unloaded the ammonium nitrate stockpile at Beirut, as well as a Portuguese trader who inspected the chemicals in Beirut in 2014.
The notices were issued at the request of State Prosecutor Ghassan Khoury, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.