DUESSELDORF, Germany – German prosecutors said on Tuesday they had found no grounds to investigate the world's largest chemicals distributor Brenntag over the 2014 sale to a company in Syria of substances that can be used in chemical weapons.
In June, Süddeutsche Zeitung, working with other media outlets, reported that Brenntag sold ingredients with potential dual-use in a painkiller and nerve gas to a Syrian drug-maker, hitting its shares on concern over political repercussions in the United States.
Brenntag said at the time that a Swiss subsidiary supplied chemicals diethylamine and isopropanol in 2014, in line with relevant laws and regulations, to Syrian drug-maker Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Industries (MPI) to produce a pain killer.