October 2, 2026
The first investigating judge in Mount Lebanon, Judge Nada Al-Asmar, issued her indictment in a case related to suspicions of fraud in medical equipment and supplies used in operating rooms, attributed to the “Arthrolab” company and those responsible for it, in addition to the suspicion of the involvement of a health inspector in the Ministry of Health.
The details of the file go back to a report received by the Beirut Port Office in the General Directorate of State Security, which was followed by investigations and raids that included the company’s two warehouses in the areas of Shananair and Kfarhabab. The inspections resulted in the seizure of quantities of expired medical supplies without separating them from valid products, in addition to the seizure of stickers and tools suspected of being used to remove the original stickers and replace them with new ones, in addition to monitoring indicators of the reprocessing of disposable supplies and poor storage conditions.
The file included about 15 boxes of “ground bone” (which is used to fill bone spaces in surgeries) that were sent to the Great Prophet Hospital during the war and were later returned to the company after it was found that they had expired. The decision confirmed that the cans were returned immediately upon discovering that they had expired without being implanted in patients’ bodies.
During the investigations, the company’s director, Ziad Haddad, admitted that the cans had expired about three months ago, and that the date on the label was extended for an additional six months, justifying this by the shortage in the market. He indicated that the hospital returned the cans and obtained a discount of 10% of the company’s sales value for a year, before State Security seized them in the warehouse.
Haddad also admitted to changing the data of origin of some supplies imported from China, explaining that this came to help hospitals and guarantors cover their costs after it was not possible to secure alternatives from the United States, with doctors knowing the true origin. He also acknowledged the reuse of some sports medicine supplies after sterilization in exceptional cases, while the company maintained that some of the equipment was primarily designed for reuse, and that the expired supplies were isolated and not intended for circulation.
For his part, one of the employees spoke in his testimony about the use of stickers bearing new dates and international trademarks, and the re-cleaning and packaging of used equipment in preparation for sending it to other hospitals, estimating that about 100 hospitals were exposed to fraud, while the decision did not adopt this number as a proven fact for all trading cases.
In legal adaptation, Judge Al-Asmar distinguished between supplies intended for single use and those that can be reused according to specific conditions. After evaluating the defendants’ roles, it issued its indictment against Director Ziad Haddad and the company for the crimes of fraud, violating the Consumer Protection Law, and changing data of origin. The indictment also included Semaan Eleni on charges of possessing and storing expired supplies, accountant Yasser Haider for his role in accounting transactions and data, and sales official Rabih Tannous for following up on orders and communicating with hospitals.
Regarding the suspicion of bribery of health inspector Charbel Harfouche (in which the amount of $400 was mentioned through contradictory testimonies), the judge did not find any material evidence proving that the bribe had been paid or offered, so she decided to prevent the trial of Harfouche for the felony of bribery, but she suspected him of misdemeanor breach of job duties because he did not document his observations of inspecting finished supplies and used tools in a due diligence report, and was satisfied with verbal remarks.
Judge Al-Asmar concluded her decision by referring the defendants to the single criminal judge in Keserwan to decide on responsibilities, while recalling that the indictment is not considered a final judgment of conviction, pending what the trial will reveal regarding the nature of the supplies entering the operating rooms and the integrity of their data.
