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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 23 February 2021:
At a Tripoli press conference Sunday, the head of the Libyan Media Foundation, Mohamed Baiyu, declared the decision by the Tripoli Audit Bureau to suspend him from his role as a precautionary measure as null and void. He called the act an arbitrary measure due to the lack of capacity of the person who issued them and their lack of respect for the procedures and mechanisms followed.
Baiyu said this precautionary suspension was without any precedents of investigation or legal justifications and without respecting the procedures and mechanisms leading to this suspension.
He stressed that he did not recognize the arbitrary and unjust Audit Bureau decision due to its invalidity, the failure of its source to comply with the procedures to be taken and followed, the lack of a capacity of its issuer and the failure to inform him of these procedures by proper means or through the Presidency Council of the Government of National Accord.
Baiyu suspension
It will be recalled that the Audit Bureau had suspended Baiyu on 16 February due to what it claimed was his obstruction of the work of the committee charged with examining his institution’s accounts, and not enabling it to review documents and check the bank account balances, and failure to inform the Audit Bureau of the accounts closure at the end of the year.
It also put the Foundation’s accounts under the supervision of the Bureau.
Contested appointment and militia arrest
It will be recalled that Baiyu was controversially appointed by Presidency Council head, Faiez Serraj, on 10 October 2020. But the appointment decision was unilateral and did not gain the unanimous support of the rest of the Presidency Council.
Baiyu had worked for a long period in the Qaddafi media machine and was seen as representing the old regime.
Ten days later, Baiyu was kidnapped by the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade (TRB) but was later released unharmed.
His appointment is also being challenged in court.
Libya’s state media unified as a television and radio network: TAL | (libyaherald.com)
Tripoli Libyan government to launch English-language TV channel | (libyaherald.com)
Head of Serraj Media Foundation released by militias | (libyaherald.com)
UNSMIL deplores unlawful arrest of Serraj media head Baiyu | (libyaherald.com)
