Former army chief testifies in Beirut port explosion case

Beirut – “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”: In the new investigations into the Beirut port bombing case, the judicial investigator, Judge Fadi Sawan, heard former army chief Jean Kahwaji as a witness in a session that lasted an hour and a half without Qahwaji presenting anything new, but instead delivered information that was previously published in the direction of a reply. The army command in the letter from the customs directorate on ammonium nitrate, noting that the army is responsible for weapons and ammunition.

Kahwaji announced that he appeared before Judge Fadi Sawan as a witness in the disaster of the Beirut port explosion file, and stated that “the army carried out all its functions in accordance with the laws in force and the internal instructions of the military establishment.”

It is worth mentioning that the former minister, lawyer Karim Pakradouni, is the representative of General Kahwaji, and in a statement to the Kahwaji agent’s media office, it was confirmed that “the former commander of the army is under the roof of the law and the power of attorney . The statement revealed what Kahwaji said during the hearing session. The General Directorate of Customs of the Port of Beirut in a letter at the end of 2015, asking if the army needed the ammonium nitrate material in the port at Pavilion No. 12, and this file was forwarded to the Directorate of Material, which took the initiative to inspect the ammonium nitrate bags and performed the necessary laboratory tests. The command stated that the army does not need the aforementioned material, due to its large quantity, its limited use and the fact that it decomposes over time, which is dangerous when stored for a long time, in addition to the fact that it does not exist empty places to store it, nor is there a possibility to destroy or dispose of it.

He added: “Consequently, the army command responded to the Customs Directorate according to a letter dated April 7, 2016, in which it said that it did not need ammonium nitrate, and that it was possible to contact the Lebanese Company of Explosives – Majeed al -Shammas, to clarify the possibility of benefiting from the aforementioned material, and in case you do not want it, so it is re-exported to the country of origin at the expense of its importers ”.

Although Judge Sawan resumes his investigations, starting next Monday, with people who have not previously appeared before him, including those who are accused, and whose names were included in the lists of subpoenas for the next week and beyond, some they have raised a question mark. on the discretionary decisions of the judicial investigator to arrest so-and-so and not arrest another, and therefore on the reason for the arrest of the customs directors, General Shafiq Mari, Badri Daher and others if they addressed letters to the business judge urgently and the army command to dispose of the seized nitrates by judicial decision and what they requested was not fulfilled.