Search notice issued for FPM engineer amid energy minister's judicial request

BEIRUT — Energy Minister Joe Saddi requested last Friday a judicial investigation before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation against engineer Fawzi Meshleb, accusing him of "attempting to create shortages in petroleum products" on the Lebanese market.

According to a statement released Tuesday by Saddi’s media office and relayed by the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the move came after Saddi received a warning letter from JPMorgan, through which Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank) opens letters of credit for companies importing petroleum products.

The letter revealed that Meshleb had urged the bank to cease dealing with the ministry, which could jeopardize the opening of letters of credit essential for fuel imports to Lebanon.

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Saddi received news of the letter on Friday. Meshleb was summoned to appear in court on Saturday and Monday, but did not attend, an Energy Ministry source told L'Orient Today.

Consequently, a search notice was issued against him, the ministry's statement announced. A high-ranking judicial source confirmed the information to L'Orient Today.

Meshleb is an adviser to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and has for months been publicly criticizing the Energy Ministry, which is now held by the Lebanese Forces as part of its Cabinet share, after decades under FPM leadership.

“Saddi requested before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation the opening of a judicial investigation against Meshleb, for deliberately and with premeditation undermining national economic security (...) and causing massive losses to the Lebanese people as a whole by attempting to create shortages in petroleum products, with all the resulting impact on citizens’ lives," the statement read.

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Meshleb denied the accusations in a post on X on Tuesday. “They are accusing me of having warned the American bank JPMorgan that it must comply with U.S. laws in the case of the ship CAN KA, which loaded cargo from the company Alkagesta, whose owner was arrested for falsifying the Russian origin? If that accusation is true, it would be an honor for me to seek the support of the Lebanese judiciary and to request essential documents before any payment is made.”

The ministry source told L'Orient Today that Meshleb has no legal authority to contact JPMorgan or urge it to halt its dealings with the ministry. Regarding the CAN KA cargo, the source said Meshleb has repeatedly made “false claims,” stressing that the ministry does not authorize the loading of any cargo without judicial approval.

According to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider, the CAN KA oil/chemical Tanker is currently located near the coast of Zouk Mosbeh (Kesrouan).

In December, FPM MP Nada Boustany revealed that Meshleb filed the complaint that led to the initial search of Hawk III, a tanker that imported suspected Russian-sanctioned fuel to Lebanon and that was intercepted by the Lebanese navy in September.

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'Plunging Lebanon into darkness'

Meshleb wrote on X that he was not in Lebanon, noting that he had advanced a planned trip by two days. “At the right time, I will return to Lebanon victorious over the corruption mafia,” he wrote.

In its second statement on Tuesday, the ministry accused him of "lying," asking him to return to Lebanon to appear before the judiciary.

According to the Energy Ministry's statement, "if the correspondent bank [JPMorgan] were to act on Meshleb's incitement, it would have led to halting the opening of banking credits for companies supplying petroleum products necessary for electricity production, thereby disabling the work of Electricité du Liban and plunging Lebanon into darkness."

The Ministry, which accused Meshleb of "repeated attempts to obstruct" its work, added that it would have also led to halting the import of fuel for the Lebanese Army, potentially threatening private-sector imports, and possibly letting the sole correspondent bank completely cease dealings with the Lebanese state.