A meeting was held in the afternoon at the Grand Serail, at the request of caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, represented by his advisors, Khodor Taleb and Hussein Kaafarani, who conveyed to the interlocutors Premier Diab’s insistence on applying stringent measure to combat smuggling, stockpiling, monopoly and manipulation of petroleum products.

The meeting was attended by Director General of oil facilities, Aurore Feghali, Director General of Customs, Raymond Khoury, Judge Jean Tannous from the Financial Public Prosecution, Director of oil warehouses, Nicolas Nassar, Director of Consumer Protection, Tarek Younes, Brigadier General Sassine Merheb from State Security, Colonel Jean Awad from the Internal Security Forces, Colonel Hadi Abou Chacra from General Security, and Colonel Antoine Hanna from the Intelligence Directorate. The interlocutors agreed on ensuring full coordination among the judiciary, security services and the General Directorate of oil facilities.

The meeting undertook a series of measures and steps aimee at addressing the issue of monopoly, price manipulation and smuggling of petroleum products.

Public Prosecutor’s letter of request:

After the meeting, and in order to strictly enforce measures to prevent all forms of monopoly and manipulation of fuel prices, Public Prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, issued a judicial warrant stipulating the following:

With reference to the aforementioned subject, we instruct you to strictly pursue fuel smuggling, monopoly or storage in unauthorized places or at a price higher than the official price, as well as controlling quantities, seizing smuggled fuel transportation means, and red-tagging storage places without giving their owners any administrative deadlines of any kind.

Since fuel is perishable and its preservation entails large expenses, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, which is in control of the file, is required to sell the fuel and keep its price in a trust fund, in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 of Decree No. 8625 dated 24/3/1947, control means of transportation, and request the Court of First Instance to confiscate relevant quantities.

Gasoline shall be sold by the judicial police to the public at the official price, provided that every person receives no more than twenty liters. As for diesel, it shall be sold to hospitals and private generator owners in the presence of an employee from the municipality where the quantity was seized. If the quantity of diesel exceeds fifty thousand liters, it must be handed over to the General Directorate of oil facilities, and the means of transportation must be seized.

The circular also requires the public to report any of the above-mentioned crimes on the hotline of the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces (112).

This letter is addressed to:

The Financial Public Prosecution, the Appeal Prosecutors, and the Government’s Commissioner to the Military Court.

– The first investigative judges and the first military investigative judge.

– The Lebanese Army Command

– The General Directorate of Internal Security Forces

– The General Directorate of General Security.

– The General Directorate of State Security.

– The General Directorate of Customs.