Fadi Sawan, the judicial investigator in the Beirut Port bombing case, suspended the investigations for 10 days after two former ministers, accusing them of bearing part of the responsibility for the explosion, submitted a memorandum requesting that the case be transferred to another judge.

The two former ministers, Ali Hassan Khalil (Finance) and Ghazi Zuaiter (Works), were absent yesterday, Wednesday, from an interrogation session before the investigator, Sawan, and said that they had not been officially informed of the session, at a time when the judge set a new date to hear them.

On the tenth of this month, Sawan pleaded against the caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, and 3 former ministers, Khalil Zuaiter, and Youssef Fenianos (a former Minister of Public Works) on charges of negligence, negligence and causing hundreds of deaths in the port explosion.

It is noteworthy that Zuaiter and Khalil submitted a request on Wednesday to transfer the port's complaint from Judge Sawan to another judge due to "legitimate suspicion", which will stop the progress of the investigations now, until the Court of Cassation decides on the transfer request.

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- Megaphone (@megaphone_news) December 17, 2020

Accusing the judge

Zuaiter and Khalil, who are close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, submitted a memorandum to the Public Prosecution Office of Cassation, requesting that the case be transferred to another judge, after accusing Sawan of violating the constitution by claiming against two former ministers and two deputies in Parliament.

The French Press Agency quoted a judicial source as saying that the request of the two former ministers was referred to the Criminal Court of Cassation, adding that "all parties to the lawsuit, starting from the cassation public prosecution to the judicial investigator and the bar association with its agency for the plaintiffs affected by the explosion, have a period of 10 days to answer this memorandum." .

As a result, the judicial investigator suspended the investigation procedures into the port explosion until the Court of Cassation decided on the request to transfer the case, and accordingly, a session that Judge Sawan had set on Friday to interrogate Diab was canceled, who did not appear in a first session last Monday.

The authorities are investigating the explosion that occurred on August 4, and attributed it to storing huge quantities of ammonium nitrate for years in a port terminal without preventive measures, and it was found that officials at several levels were aware of the dangers of storing it without moving a finger.

The explosion caused the death of more than 200 people, the injury of more than 6,500 others, and the displacement of tens of thousands of Lebanese, and the incident fueled the anger of the angry street against the entire political class, accusing it of corruption and negligence, and it also held it responsible for the disaster of the explosion.

The ongoing investigations have resulted in the arrest of more than 25 persons responsible for the port's management and security.

I have many observations about Investigator Fadi Sawan, the most important of which is that he knows that he has arrested junior officers who carried out all their duties in the port explosion, and


if they were really responsible in his view, he must file a claim against the heads of the agencies as well,


otherwise


how can he jump to the prosecution at the head of government Hassan Diab before claiming all the heads that are Under Diab ?!

- Major General Jamil Al-Sayed (@jamil_el_sayyed) December 12, 2020

Hassan Diab

After the judiciary was indicted last week, the caretaker prime minister said he was clear of conscience regarding his handling of the blast file, and added in a statement that he was "confident" in his clean hand and his "responsible and transparent" handling of the Beirut port explosion file, and that he was surprised at this targeting that exceeds The person came to the site, and that it would not allow the Prime Minister’s position to be targeted by any party.

Former Finance Minister Khalil said he had no role in the explosion, and the ministry, which carried its bag from 2014 until early 2020, oversees customs.

As for Zuaiter, he described the judiciary’s accusation that he was negligent in the explosion of the port as a flagrant violation, and he had undertaken public works in 2014, shortly after the arrival of the ship carrying ammonium nitrate to Beirut port.