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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 11 September 2013:
Speaking today at the Prime Ministerial press conference Finance Minister Abdelkarim Kilani made an effort to . . .[restrict]repel media and social networks rumours that have been circulating questioning the Zeidan government’s financial integrity.
Minister Kilani said that the rumours regarding the government’s expenditure and finances were totally untrue.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan reiterated what his Finance Minister said, saying that “all government expenditure is documented and saved”.
“We cannot spend anything without process and routine and documentation. All expenditure occurs through the GNC and by GNC approval”, he stressed.
Finance Minister Kilani refuted the story that the government had received LD 70 billion from external sources in addition to its budget. Kilani challenged those who have any evidence to these stories to put them forward.
Kilani also refuted the story that Libya’s external and internal investments had made LD18 and LD21 billion profit recently. He challenged the perpetrators of these rumours to bring forward any evidence, saying that these are “fantasy figures”.
The Minister also refuted a claim that the Audit Bureau had made accusations of government mishandling of funds. He said that the Audit Bureau as a matter of course makes numerous enquiries regarding various expenditures of the government. These he said were routine and happen all the time.
If they were serious allegations of fraud, he said, they would be passed on by the Audit Bureau to the Public Prosecutor for investigation and possible charges. He said that people had misunderstood these routine enquiries and had turned them into something more serious than they were.
The Minister also explained that in fact one of the investment portfolios, the Inma (the Social Security Fund for Investment) Fund was unable to pay the wages of its employees. This implied that far from making any profit, it had made a loss.
Finance Minister Kilani said that the Inma Fund needed to pay LD 110 million per month in wages and as a result the government had asked the GNC for more money and held LD 330 million to pay these outstanding wages. These were outside the 2013 state budget.
Kilani said that the demonstrations outside his Ministry which had used all sorts of excuses such as accusations of fraud and the presence of pro Qaddafi supporters within his Ministry were inaccurate and misdirected. The Inma Funds fall under the auspices of the GNC and were outside the government’s budget he explained.
The Minister denied the existence of personnel within his Ministry that were either Qaddafi supporters, who had green (Qaddafi) flags or Qaddafi’s Green book. He condemned the attack on his Ministry and the destruction and looting of its property by demonstrators. [/restrict]
