German prosecutors won't probe Brenntag over chemicals sale to Syria

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, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, working with other media outlets, reported that Brenntag sold ingredients with potential dual-use in a painkiller and nerve gas to a Syrian drugmaker, 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 drugmaker Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Industries (MPI) to produce a pain killer.