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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 1 November 2018:
Libya’s main sovereign fund entity, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), has today denied Belgian media reports that some of its assets in Belgium are missing.
In its statement, the LIA said that there is no evidence of the UN Security Council resolution freezing Libya’s assets abroad being broken in the latest UN Experts Libya Committee.
It also refuted the claim that LIA frozen assets in Belgium were being used to finance Libyan militias and human trafficking through Libya.
The LIA statement, however, did not comment about Belgian media reports that the case is being looked into by the Belgian investigating magistrate, Michel Clairese.
Equally, it did not comment on the fact that Belgian parliamentarians have
repeatedly challenged the Belgian government for more information on this issue and have complained that they have had little response.
The LIA statement avoids specifically referring to interest and dividends accrued by its Belgian-held assets, which was specifically mentioned in the Belgian media report.
It will be recalled that a report by Belgian radio RTBF on 29 October claimed that while Libya’s main frozen assets were still frozen, the interest and dividends accruing from them have not been frozen.
It states that from 2012 between 3 to 5 billion euros have illegally left these accounts.
There has been no comment on the issue from the Faiez Serraj Presidency Council and its Government of National Accord nor from Libya’s Attorney General’s Office.
Belgium accused of using Libya’s frozen assets in financing militias and human trafficking
