"Lebanon Debate"
Serious revelations have emerged about a network manipulating Lebanon’s fuel import contracts. Sahara Energy DMCC, implicated in importing Russian-origin fuel oil with falsified certificates of origin, is now signaling that it will not accept being the sole scapegoat in this affair and is threatening to expose its partner, Ecomarcet of Turkey.
According to informed sources, Sahara Energy is prepared to release documents proving that Ecomarcet played a central role in misrepresenting the origin of fuel cargoes, despite having recently won a contract from Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy to supply diesel to state oil installations. This puts the Ministry under direct scrutiny, as the company trusted with official tenders is itself entangled in a fraudulent fuel origin scheme.
Evidence also shows that the most recent tender was far from transparent. Ecomarcet, Iplom International SA, and Sahara Energy all participated as supposed competitors, while in reality they were cooperating behind the scenes. The proof lies in the fact that Mr. Khalil Khoury negotiates on behalf of Ecomarcet, while simultaneously serving as the official representative of Iplom International SA. This points to a coordinated bid-rigging scheme, further reinforced by Iplom International SA’s close ties with BB Energy.
This pattern of manipulation is not new. It dates back to 2023, when investigative site news Lebanon Debate exposed a controversial fuel deal that awarded a lucrative contract to BB Energy, against the recommendation of Lebanon’s Public Procurement Authority, which had demanded its annulment. Despite this, the then-Minister of Energy insisted on pushing the deal through, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet ratified it.
At the time, Justice Minister Henry Khoury—uncle of Khalil Khoury who was representing Petraco filed a lawsuit against Lebanon Debate. The case was pursued by an attorney widely known for his close ties to BB Energy. A judicial order was later issued to seize the phone of the Michel Anbour , lebanon Debate’s publisher in an attempt to uncover his sources, amid suspicions that engineer Fawzy Mechleb was the whistleblower.
Today, with Sahara Energy now threatening to reveal the extent of Ecomarcet’s involvement, legal experts are urging Judge Jamal Hajjar to take immediate measures, including:
• Seizing all performance bonds provided by Ecomarcet, equal to 10% of the contract value.
• Freezing any pending payments owed to the company until investigations are concluded.
• Summoning the company’s representatives for judicial and financial questioning over allegations of fraud and bid collusion.
What began as a dispute over a single fuel shipment is quickly snowballing into a wider corruption scandal, threatening to implicate not just Sahara Energy but also Ecomarcet, Iplom International SA, and BB Energy—a network of companies that has shaped Lebanon’s fuel sector since 2023
الـــمــــزيــــــــــد
