BEIRUT (AP) – The former Lebanese army chief on Thursday told the chief investigator of the massive explosion in Beirut last Thursday that he had recommended years before the explosion that tons of ammonium nitrate stored there be sold privately or returned to importers. word.
The military has no use for the volatile chemical, testified Jean Kahwaji, who was army chief until 2017.
Six months after the investigation began, Kahwaji was called as a witness for the interrogation, the first army officer and the highest security officer to testify in the investigation.
He told the chief investigator that the customs department had asked the army at the end of 2015 if he was interested in the stored fertilizer, which could also be used as an explosive. The army, after conducting tests, said it had no use for the ammonium nitrate because it was a large quantity and ‘had limited use and because it dissolves over time, it poses a danger if stored for a long time’. , Kahwaji said.
Kahwaji said the army has no room to store it and no ability to get rid of it. He added that the army had asked the customs authority to sell it to a private explosives company in Lebanon or to export it again at the expense of the importers to the country of origin.
According to a local media investigation, the importers did their own tests of the nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, months after it was stored in the port, and then dropped any claims on the shipment. The chemicals eventually remained in the warehouse for six years before exploding. What caused the explosion remains unknown.
The volatile fertilizer caught fire on August 4, causing one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, disfiguring Beirut and killing 211 people. More than 6,000 were injured in the blast.
The cargo entered the port of Beirut in 2013 due to technical problems with the ship. It was then confiscated and stored in a warehouse in the harbor since 2014.
After the blast, it was revealed that many of Lebanon’s political and security officials were aware of the stored ammonium nitrate, and many of them had warned in internal communications about the dangers of keeping it in port in dangerous conditions.
The army order, when Kahwaji was at the helm, was one of the agencies that exchanged letters with the customs department about what to do with the ammonium nitrate.
In April 2016, the military sent a letter to the Customs Authority with its recommendation.
Kahwaji on Thursday told Judge Fadi Sawwan, chief investigator, that the “army has performed and continues to perform its duties under the law.” His statement as reported by his lawyer was carried by the National News Agency.
In December, Sawwan filed charges against Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers, accusing them of negligence leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
The charges caused a setback and the former ministers challenged the judge’s authority in court and brought the investigation to a halt. But the country’s supreme court has asked Sawwan to resume his work.
Kahwaji’s interrogation is a sign of the resumption of the investigation and is likely to alleviate public concern that the investigation is derailed, given Lebanon’s decades-long culture of impunity and political interference in legal matters.
Nearly 30 people, mostly from ports and customs officials, have been arrested since the blast.