Beirut: The judge responsible for the investigation into the Port Beirut explosion will try to question politicians and top security officials, the Lebanese national news agency said on Friday, almost a year after the explosion destroyed the capital.
The explosion in August, blamed a large number of chemicals remaining for years in poor storage conditions, deepening the political and economic crisis in cultivated countries.
Regular Lebanon has grown increasingly angry that there are no senior officials held to take into account the explosions that killed hundreds of people, injuring thousands and destroyed throughout the environment at the center of Beirut.
Judge Tarek Bitar, who became the main investigator in the explosion after his predecessor was eliminated in February, would call the guardian of the Prime Minister Hassan in Diab and others, said agency, even though there was no date.
He had also written to Parliament who asked to raise immunity from Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, former Minister of Public Works Ghazi Zeait and former Minister of Internal Affairs Nohad Machnouk as the first step towards charging them.
Zeiter, parliamentary representatives from the Block Speaker Nabih Berri, told Reuters that he had only heard charges from the media and did not want to comment.
Machnouk also refused to comment.
The prime minister of caregivers, Khalil and others were registered as the target to be questioned by the judge could not be contacted immediately for comments.
Diab and former officials were charged last year by Judge Fadi Sawan, who previously led the probe, but they refused to be questioned as a suspect, accused him of exceeding his strength.
Judge Bitar also asked permission from the Caretaker Interior Minister Mohamed Fahmy to question the Head of Lebanese Security Abbas Ibrahim, said the agency.
Fahmy told Reuters that he had not been told about the process but would take all the legal steps needed by him.
List of Bitar including former Minister of Public Works, Youssef Finianos, and Tony Saliba, head of state security.
Sawan was issued from an investigation in February by the Cassation Court after the request by Khalil and Zeiter, a major setback for the families of the victims who were seeking justice.
Sawan accused three former ministers and guards of Prime Minister negligence.
The Cassation Court quoted “legitimate suspicion” for the neutrality of Sawan, partly because his house was broken in the explosion.
Judge Beirut Blast to question top politicians, security officials
