Libya aware of transfer of frozen assets allegedly used for human trafficking
Libya’s Investment Authority (LIA) says its aware of the transfer of interest and dividend payments on its assets based in Belgium.
JOHANNESBURG – Libya’s Investment Authority (LIA) says its aware of the transfer of interest and dividend payments on its assets based in Belgium, frozen by a UN Security Council resolution, being transferred out of that country but says it believes this is legal.
A media uproar followed the recent revelation by a Belgian radio station that according to Belgium’s secret services Libya’s frozen financial assets were being transferred out of the country, in violation of a UN Security Council Resolution (UNSC), and being used to fund human trafficking.
The radio reported that according to an anonymous source “close to the secret services”, the role of Belgium has not been neutral in Libya’s 2011 migration crisis.
The secret service source said that for seven years the various militias in Libya have been able to access all the weapons they needed.
However, the LIA countered that it was aware that in many jurisdictions, such as the UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg, the UN Security Council freeze does not extend to interest and dividend payments, the Libya Herald reported.
LIA added that it also had no involvement in any violation of the UNSC resolution which it argued applied to Libyan assets only as opposed to interest and dividends on the assets.
However, it did not reveal in its statement, as has been called for by many Libyan politicians, why interest and dividend payments had been transferred to accounts outside Belgium.
– African News Agency (ANA)
Source: iol.co.za