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Lebanon lawyers urge UK to halt liquidation of Beirut blast-linked company

January 27, 2021 at 1:56 pm

A damaged car and building are seen after a fire at a warehouse with explosives at the Port of Beirut led to massive blasts in Lebanon, 14 August 2020 [Enes Canli/Anadolu Agency]

An association of Lebanese lawyers has requested British authorities prevent the liquidation of a company potentially linked to the Beirut blast, Reuters reported.

The Beirut Bar Association sent a letter to British Member of Parliament Margaret Hodge making the request on Monday.

The letter urged the UK corporate registry Companies House to halt the liquidation of Savaro Ltd, which filed for dissolution on 12 January.

The letter described the company as an “indicted entity” in an investigation into the cause of the 4 August explosion which ripped through Beirut leaving over 200 dead and thousands more wounded.

The letter, penned by Bar Association President Melhem Khalaf, states that Savaro has been indicted by Fadi Sawwan, the lead investigating judge in the probe.

Khalaf warns allowing Savaro to be liquidated “before the end of the judicial proceedings would permit an indicted entity to evade justice”, Reuters quoted the letter as saying.

It remains unclear if Savaro has officially been indicted in the Lebanese investigation and the letter marks the first indication the company might be.

READ: Switzerland to probe Lebanon central bank governor over money laundering

The Bar Association letter to Hodge told the British MP Savaro’s name and address “appears on documents in its capacity as purchaser of the High-Density Ammonium Nitrate cargo that eventually exploded in August 2020”.

Hodge called for a British-led investigation into Savaro last week, alongside John Mann, a member of the Britain’s House of Lords.

Last week, Mann said: “It is shocking and very damaging to the reputation of the United Kingdom that Companies House and our national system of company registration can be so easily exploited.”

Savaro Ltd was first linked to the purchase of the explosives that caused the Beirut blast in a documentary aired by Al-Jadeed in early January. The documentary unearthed links between three Russian-Syrian citizens and Savaro because companies run by two businessmen were found to have the same addresses as Savaro.

The trio have all been sanctioned by the US for providing services to the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Sanctions were imposed on one, Mudalal Khuri, for, among other things, serving as an intermediary for Al-Assad’s government “on an attempted procurement of ammonium nitrate in late 2013.”

The alleged “attempted procurement” took place in the same period that the ammonium nitrate which caused the Beirut blast entered the Lebanese port.

READ: Interpol issues red notice for arrest of Beirut blast ship captain, owner