Security Sources Say Samaha PC a 'Valuable Treasure', Qaderi Warns of Plan to Claim Explosives were Targeted at Israel

Former minister Michel Samaha's personal computer represents a “valuable treasure” for the security agencies because it will reveal further details about his plot, a media report said on Sunday, as Mustaqbal bloc MP Ziad al-Qaderi warned of attempts to wrap up the case by claiming that the seized explosives were targeted at resisting Israel.

Lebanese security agencies unveiled the involvement of Syrian President Bashar Assad's adviser Buthaina Shaaban in the case “given the fact that Samaha, who owned three cellphones, used to regularly record all his phone conversations throughout the period of three years, before copying them to the computer that was seized on the day his house was raided by Intelligence Bureau agents,” security sources told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

“The Bureau has asked the relevant judicial authorities to authorize it to transcribe the recordings found on this computer,” the sources added.

Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr referred to Military Examining Magistrate Riyad Abu Ghida on Saturday the file on the telephone call that allegedly took place between Samaha and Shaaban, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Transcribing the recordings will take some time,” the sources told al-Mustaqbal, noting that “once enough evidence emerged to confirm the presence of (Maj. Gen. Jamil) Sayyed in Samaha's car, the file was referred to the judiciary, and the same thing happened after transcribing some of the phone conversations between Samaha and Shaaban, as she turned out to be aware of his mission – the smuggling of the explosives,” the sources added.

“The details related to Buthaina Shaaban were discovered 10 days ago and referred to the judiciary which only acted yesterday,” the sources revealed.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa revealed that “after reviewing the recordings made by Samaha's personal cellphones and the tapes found in his car, it was noticed that he made conversations with a woman he referred to as 'My Lady,' but when asked back then whether the lady on the other side of the phone was Dr. Buthaina Shaaban, he denied that.”

“But upon making a comparison between Buthaina's voice during media interviews and the voice recorded on ex-minister Samaha's tapes, IT experts found out that it was actually her voice and that Samaha talked to her before and after receiving the explosives, which suggests that the handing over process was the focal point of their conversation,” al-Anbaa added.

Separately, MP Ziad al-Qaderi told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published Sunday that “there is a scenario to distort the facts and claim that the explosives transported by Michel Samaha were targeted at resisting Israel.”

Qaderi warned of a “scenario being prepared by the Syrian regime and its allies to wrap up the case, as we have received information that there are political intentions to undermine the judicial and legal course of the case, which have started to take aim at the Intelligence Bureau, in a bid to repeat the scenario of retired Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam's case.”