Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Electricité du Liban (EDL) Kamal Hayek on Wednesday attended a hearing session before Lebanon's acting public prosecutor who has launched an investigation into the deepening electricity crisis which has plunged Lebanon into total darkness over the past three days, disrupting essential services across the nation.

The blackout has affected key facilities, including Beirut Airport, public hospitals, courthouses, and prisons.

The investigation was initiated after Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had sent a letter to the Acting Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar, urging an immediate judicial probe into the crisis. Mikati called for swift action against all individuals involved, with the aim of holding them accountable based on the investigation's findings.

A source close to the judiciary told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Judge Hajjar is expected to schedule hearing sessions with individuals named in Mikati’s letter, including members of EDL's board, and several employees.

The possibility of summoning caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad is also being considered.

In his letter, Prime Minister Mikati squarely blamed the EDL Board of Directors, specifically its chairman and the Minister of Energy, for the crisis. He pointed to the abrupt shutdown of power generation plants due to a critical shortage of fuel oil and gas oil.

Mikati detailed how the Cabinet had approved the purchase of Iraqi fuel following a request by the Minister of Energy and EDL, with part of the payment for the fuel deposited into EDL’s account at the Central Bank. However, the caretaker PM expressed shock that the EDL Board of Directors failed to convene to implement the agreement and secure the necessary fuel. The failure, Mikati noted, was exacerbated by the fact that Kamal Hayek, the EDL chairman, had left the country for his summer vacation, ceasing all communication and neglecting to delegate financial authority to other board members.

"The EDL Board of Directors was expected to implement emergency measures to avoid a complete blackout and the resulting damage to citizens and public facilities," Mikati wrote in his letter, also emphasizing that, despite the Cabinet’s approval of a plan devised by the Minister of Energy in coordination with the EDL Board, the necessary steps were not taken to avert the crisis.

A ministerial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the root of the problem lies not in securing fuel or funding, but in the discrepancies between officials responsible for the electricity sector.

“The issue has been festering since mid-July, but Prime Minister Mikati took it upon himself to address it, even traveling to Baghdad to meet with his Iraqi counterpart, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, to resolve Lebanon’s fuel supply issues,” the source said. “Unfortunately, the indifferences between the Minister of Energy and the Director-General of EDL have left the Lebanese people to suffer the consequences.”

The ministerial source also highlighted internal disputes within the political faction to which Minister Fayad belongs, the Free Patriotic Movement, as a significant factor contributing to the crisis.