A hand grenade was found in the parking lot where a prominent Lebanese judge, overseeing a probe into a bank scandal case involving Lebanese and Syrian officials, resides. Police inspected the parking lot of the Flouty and Bassil building, in the Kesrouan area of Sahel Alma, where Judge Nazem Khoury usually parks his Mercedes 180. Police were alerted after the janitor of the building found a hand grenade in a corner of the lot where Khoury parks his car. A military expert in explosives, who was immediately dispatched at the request of the concerned judiciary, revealed that the grenade was Russian made and operable but unequipped for detonation.Khoury, who has been handling the controversial Bank Al-Madina file, has already received numerous death threats resulting in him leaving for Cyprus for three weeks. Bank Al-Madina involves $1.2 billion in swindled deposits attributed by judicial investigators to the bank's executive secretary over the past three years, Rana Qoleilat. Senior Syrian intelligence officers, including the former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, Major General Rustom Ghazaleh, were also reportedly involved. Among other high ranking Syrian officials, Ghazaleh has also been questioned by Detlev Mehlis the head of the UN team investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to discover whether he is involved in the crime. Three branches of Bank Al-Madina have recently been sealed with red wax at Khoury's orders.
Jounieh's Internal Security Forces commander, Brigadier General Bahij Watfa listened to the janitor's statement and instructed the criminal investigators to take fingerprints to see if they matched those already taken from Khoury's car four days ago.