A source from within the Libyan government revealed to “Sky News Arabia” that a team of legal advisors had taken steps to prevent the seizure of funds and to stop the lawsuits filed by companies under which they obtained a judgment to seize 50 million euros in their favour.
According to the source, these lawsuits have not yet been implemented, while the team of advisors is striving to stop such lawsuits brought by many countries against Libya to obtain funds.
Last week, the Libyan Public Prosecutor, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, held talks with his Belgian counterpart Johan Delmol in Brussels to release Libyan funds estimated at 14 billion euros in Belgian banks, after reports that Belgium was seeking to control part of it as compensation for projects that were supposed to It is implemented by its companies in Libya, and the situation in Libya prevented this.
profits
The Libyan banking expert, Abdel Moneim Zeidan, told “Sky News Arabia” that the detained governments either want to seize their interests or part of the principal amount.
The frozen funds, according to official statistics, are estimated at $200 billion, and this huge amount was treated by the detaining countries as an acquired right for them, and as soon as Libya demanded its return, these countries would go crazy, in Zaidan’s words.
He also points out the huge profits generated by this large amount, while there are countries that have not adhered to the UN Security Council resolution to add profits from depositing funds to the assets of the amount.
However, he assured the Libyans that a legal team “is closely following these “games” and standing by, and the problem now is to ensure the return of funds to Libya, and this needs a decision from the Security Council.”
Chaos support
For his part, Libyan political analyst Ibrahim Al-Fitouri, speaking to “Sky News Arabia”, expects that the frozen funds file will be one of the reasons why some countries support the continuation of chaos in Libya, especially that the size of the sums threatens to cause a collapse in the economy of these countries if they are recovered from them.
Accordingly, Al-Fitouri stressed the follow-up of the cases that are brought against Libya and adherence to the fact that the litigation is in a neutral party.
The funds frozen inside European banks include assets and bonds, and were frozen by a Security Council resolution in 2011 as part of sanctions imposed on the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi before his death.
Europe accounts for 37 percent of the funds, North America with 33 percent, followed by Africa with 23 percent, the Middle East with 6 percent, and South America with 1 percent.
Libya’s representative to the United Nations, Taher Al-Sunni, had publicly accused Belgium of exploiting the circumstances to get its hands on the money, and said in a tweet via Twitter: “At a time when the Libyans are seeking to reunite and arrange for a new stage, Belgium is trying to exploit the circumstance by addressing the sanctions committee. To seize the 49 million euros of the frozen funds,” he added, “in coordination with the Investment Corporation, we informed the Security Council of our refusal and warning.”
Al-Sunni demanded the development of a new mechanism that would allow the Investment Corporation to manage funds so as not to waste them, adding that his country would resort to the international judiciary if Libya was not allowed to manage the funds.