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Follow up thread on the 2750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate at the Beirut Port:
@riadkobaissi has been investigating corruption at the Port for years. In this interview he explains the circumstances leading for the shipment staying that long at the Port.
https://bit.ly/3a5ufPJ
(1)
@riadkobaissi has been investigating corruption at the Port for years. In this interview he explains the circumstances leading for the shipment staying that long at the Port.
https://bit.ly/3a5ufPJ
(1)
In 2013 the Ministry of Transport applied with the Judge of urgent matters for a permit to “float the vessel (empty its contents) since it has explosive and at risk of sinking. In addition, they asked for the permit to sell the shipment at a later time.
(2)
(2)
The Judge allowed floating it but did not give the permit to sell its content since he thought its outside his jurisdiction. Further, he ordered the contents to be stored “somewhere suitable and secure”, not in the warehouses. They were put near fireworks seen in the videos.
(3)
(3)
Over the years, two Heads of Customs kept sending letters to the Judge of urgent matters to grant then permit to re-export the shipment or to sell it to a local company. The letters explicitly mentioned the name of the local company that will buy it.
(4)
(4)
Note that the Customs law usually indicates in such cases that goods are to be sold in auctions (Riad has been going after the Customs for corruption in the auctions for years.)
(5)
(5)
Judge(s) insisted that it’s outside their jurisdiction. Riad alluded that the Judge even contacted the ministers of Transport to inform them about the issue and to remind them that he permitted the shipment to be stored in a suitable and secure location.
(6)
(6)
It seems the Judicial system is not the culprit. It did NOT prevent the shipment from being dealt with. Someone did not want the shipment to be destroyed by Army/Security to handle it/ destroy it. Nor did they want to hold an auction to sell it.
(7)
(7)
They insisted to ask for permission to sell it to a buyer specified by the name (or re-export it) from a Judge that such matters are outside of his jurisdiction, hoping to bypass the lawful ways of holding an auction.
(8)
(8)
