The blast in Lebanon: Will the explosives supplier evade investigation? | Israel today

The country's Bar Association has asked the UK authorities to halt the company's liquidation to continue investigating its involvement • The supplier may have links to the Assad regime

• The scene of the explosion in Beirut last summer

  Photography: 

  IPI

The Lebanese Bar Association is asking the British authorities to prevent the voluntary dissolution of the United Kingdom-listed "Subaru" supplier, due to suspicions of its connection to the explosion in Beirut, Reuters reported last night (Tuesday).

In a letter sent this week to British MP Margaret Hodge, the union stressed that Savaro Ltd. should be prevented from disbanding to allow further investigation into its involvement in the disaster.

Earlier this month, the news agency reported that an explosion in the port of Beirut could have links to Syrian businessmen.

The supplier of the ammonium nitrate that led to the disaster, the Subaru company, had ties to traders who were under US sanctions due to their relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The letter alleges that "Subaru" was charged by the Lebanese judge entrusted with investigating the explosion.

However, it is not yet known what exactly she is accused of. 

The explosion in the port of Beirut // Photo: Arab networks

On January 12, a request was submitted for the voluntary dissolution of the "Subaru" company, which has updated since 2008 that its activities have been suspended.

The woman who registered as the company’s owner, Marina Pasillo, did not respond to the contents of the letter.

However, Pasillo told Reuters last week that she had acted as a Subaru agent for other owners, whose identity she refused to disclose.

She denied that "Subaru" could be linked to an explosion in Lebanon. 

Since the Beirut bombing that killed 204 people, injured thousands and destroyed entire neighborhoods, the investigation has come to a dead end after senior ministers and even the prime minister at the time of the disaster, Hassan Diab, refused to cooperate.

The ammonium nitrate was loaded onto the ship Rosos in late 2013 which stopped in Lebanon unplanned.

The firm in Zimbabwe, which ordered the explosive, revealed that it did so through the Subaru company.