Documents sent to ministries as part of the probe made clear how dangerous ammonium nitrate could be and warned that “putting it on will cause a big explosion and the result will be the almost total destruction of the port.”
CNN has seen some of the documents included in a file sent to the Ministry of Public Works.
The Minister of Public Works, Michel Najjar, reviewed the documents at the end of August 3 and commissioned ministry officials to monitor them, according to the interim prime minister’s office. A stamp on documents received by the ministry dated August 4, 2020, the same day the port of Beirut was broken when the chemical detonated.
CNN has asked for comments from Najjar and has received no response.
At least 204 people were killed and thousands more injured in the blast that broke out in the Lebanese capital. The blast, which left a cloud of orange mushrooms over the city, caused extensive damage to central and eastern Beirut districts, displacing nearly 300,000 people from their homes.
More than four months later, what caused the detonation of the material is still unclear, but government officials have said they have not ruled out sabotage.
“Everything that’s going on is suspicious,” Diab told CNN. “There’s something inexplicable, the moment you’re in, what’s happening.”
He denies the accusation and says it has been pointed out even though the explosive material had been stored in the port for about six years before he took office.
“You have to ask the questions: who brought the boat? Who owns it? Who paid for it? Who was silent for seven years?” Diab said.
Since ammonium nitrate reached Beirut, Lebanon has had four prime ministers, including the country’s current prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, who has denounced Diab’s accusation.
Diab, who had already filed a voluntary affidavit, declined to be questioned by the judge leading the investigation, saying he has no constitutional basis.
The investigation was suspended, after two of the ex-ministers who were accused demanded the removal of the judge from the case.
Documents sent to the Ministry of Public Works before the explosion raised the possibility of stealing the explosive material; they warn of a broken door in the warehouse where the deadly material is stored and reveal that security was poor.
A Lebanese intelligence official told CNN that 1,300 tons of ammonium nitrate had disappeared from the warehouse before the explosion.
The Diab government, which will be replaced when a new cabinet is formed, has repeatedly acknowledged having received prior warnings about the dangers of storing explosive material in the port.
Previous governments also received notifications about the warehouse, but no one addressed the issue.
‘No remorse’
Diab has repeatedly accused Lebanon’s ruling elite of “harassing” its government and updating its plans to carry out a series of economic and political reforms.
He took power in January 2020, months after a popular uprising assimilated the country and, when the country in crisis was approaching a financial downturn.
A technocrat and professor at the American University of Beirut, Diab has led a largely technocratic government that was inaugurated by a parliamentary majority backed by Hezbollah.
But his tenure has seen the country’s monetary tank, the coronavirus pandemic take advantage, poverty levels rise and the port of Beirut destroyed.
Diab says his government “was an opportunity for Lebanon to recover some of its losses, economic, social and financial.”
“With the support of political parties, with the support of the (Arab) Gulf (countries), with the support of Europeans and Americans, we would have made a big, huge difference and not provoked anyone,” he said.
“In a country like Lebanon … you need consensus and you also need the support of the international community and the Gulf. None of these were published.”