Report: Bitar to conclude investigation within a month at most

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar has held a lengthy meeting with the State Prosecutor Jamal al-Hajjar to coordinate the next steps following Bitar's decision to wrap up the investigation into the case and refer it to the Public Prosecutor's Office for review, paving the way for the issuance of an indictment, a media report said.

Bitar received, through the Public Prosecutor's Office, a letter from the German authorities in response to a request for assistance he had submitted, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted informed judicial sources as saying.

The sources said the letter "contains precise information about the movement of bank accounts and transfers of individuals suspected of involvement in financing the ammonium nitrate shipment that exploded at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, and clarifies important points that Bitar sought to strengthen the evidence he possessed."

The sources emphasized that Bitar “has completed 99 percent of the necessary information and now possesses all the documents and evidence that definitively determine how the ammonium nitrate was imported, how the shipment was financed, who was responsible for transporting it to Lebanon, and how it was stored and protected at the Port of Beirut, as well as how and why the explosion occurred.”

According to sources, the investigating judge is making significant efforts to conclude the investigation within a few weeks, or a month at the most.