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Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) – Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab told CNN that the investigation of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate at the Beirut port began just hours before a massive explosion at the site, which killed more than 200 people. People and mass destruction in the Lebanese capital on August 4.
Diab, who resigned after the port explosion but remained head of the interim government until a new government was formed, added that the night before the accident, the Minister of Public Works and Transport and the Minister of Justice in Lebanon had the task of investigating some 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, which arrived in Beirut. On board a ship in 2013.
The documents that were sent to the ministries as part of the investigation showed the danger of ammonium nitrate and warned that “starting the fire will cause a great explosion, and the result will be the almost total destruction of the port.” CNN saw some of the attachments in a file that was sent to the Ministry of Public Works.
Public Works and Transport Minister Michel Najjar reviewed the documents late on August 3 and ordered ministry officials to follow up on the matter, according to the acting prime minister’s office. The stamp on the documents received by the ministry was dated August 4, 2020, the same day the Beirut port was destroyed when ammonium nitrate exploded.
CNN sought comment from Najjar and received no response.
More than four months later, it is unclear what caused the ammonium nitrate explosion, but government officials said they had not ruled out sabotage.
Diab told CNN: “Everything that happens is suspicious … There is something inexplicable, the timing of it and what is happening.”
Diab was charged with criminal negligence as part of a judicial investigation into the explosion.
He denies the charges and says he was charged even though the explosive was stored in the port for years before he took office.
Diab said: “Questions must be asked: Who brought the boat? Who owns it? Who paid for it? Who was silent about it for seven years?”
Since the arrival of ammonium nitrate in Beirut, Lebanon has had 4 prime ministers, including the current prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, who denounced Diab’s accusation.
Three former ministers also face charges related to the fatal explosion.
Diab, who had already provided a voluntary written statement, declined to be questioned by the judge leading the investigation, saying it had no constitutional basis.
The investigation was suspended after two accused former ministers requested the removal of the judge in the case.
The documents, which were transferred to the Ministry of Public Works before the explosion, raised the possibility of theft of the explosive materials, and warned of a broken door to the warehouse where the lethal materials were stored, and revealed that there was little security there.
A Lebanese intelligence official told CNN that 1,300 tons of ammonium nitrate were lost from the warehouse before the explosion.
The Diab government, which will be replaced when a new government is formed, has decided to receive advance warnings about the dangers posed by the storage of explosive materials in the port. Previous governments were also notified about the warehouse, but no one addressed the issue.
Diab has repeatedly accused the ruling elite in Lebanon of “cornering” his government and undermining its plans to implement a series of economic and political reforms.
Diab seized power in January 2020, months after a popular uprising that swept the country, and as the country already in crisis was approaching financial collapse.
Diab led a largely technocratic government that began operations after gaining approval from a Hezbollah-backed parliamentary majority.
But his tenure witnessed the deterioration of the country’s currency, the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, high levels of poverty and the destruction of the port of Beirut.
Diab said his government “was an opportunity for Lebanon to recoup some of its economic, social and financial losses.” He added: “With the support of the political parties, with the support of the Arab Gulf states, and with the support of the Europeans and Americans, we would make a big difference and provoke no one.”
Diab added: “In a country like Lebanon … consensus is needed, and the support of the international community and the Gulf is also needed. None of this was imminent.”
