Featured Libya

Belgium’s EU candidate denies ‘malicious’ graft accusations

Didier Reynders, Belgium’s pick for EU justice commissioner, denied on Wednesday corruption allegations against him and said he would continue to seek the post because he had not been charged. At a confirmation hearing, Belgian Foreign Minister Reynders told the European Parliament that money-laundering allegations made by a former Belgian… Read More

Christie’s expert hunts for stolen millions in lawsuit against Bank of Valletta

An international hunt for millions in cash stolen from an art specialist in New York has found its way into a Maltese court, knocking on the door of auditor Joseph Sammut and his Libyan networks. Sammut, a one-time treasurer for the Labour Party, is already in court facing… Read More

Goldman’s Star in Hong Kong Turns Into 1MDB Scandal’s Enigmatic Man

Andrea Vella was Goldman Sachs’s top dealmaker in Hong Kong. He had a nose for splashy trades, a fondness for the Bentley Continental, and a vague enough resemblance to George Clooney that there was even a joke among some bankers: “What would George do?” That was almost a year ago. Read More

1st April 2019

UN says expert arrested in Tunisia has diplomatic immunity

AP — The United Nations says a member of the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Libya has been arrested in Tunisia despite having diplomatic immunity. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Mocef Kartas, who reportedly has dual German-Tunisian citizenship, was arrested following his arrival in Tunis on March… Read More

29th March 2019

UN envoy says corruption is at the heart of Libya’s conflict

AP — The U.N. envoy to Libya says corruption and fighting over resources among rival factions are core issues impeding progress in resolving the country’s turmoil. Ghassan Salame told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV late Wednesday that building national institutions in charge of a fair distribution of wealth is “the… Read More

30th July 2018

Sanctions: Standard Chartered extends Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Standard Chartered has agreed to a further extension of its U.S. Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) until 31 December 2018, the bank said. The Group reached agreements with the United States after admitting that it had processed payments for sanctions targets, and paid a settlement of $327 million. It also agreed… Read More

22nd March 2018

Funding probe is ‘hell,’ says French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy says allegations he received campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are making his life “hell”. “I am accused without any physical evidence,” Mr Sarkozy told magistrates, Le Figaro newspaper reports. He has been placed under formal investigation for illicit election campaign financing in… Read More

11th January 2018

UK: £1m bail granted for man in Sarkozy-Gaddafi inquiry

A French businessman wanted for questioning in relation to an inquiry into the alleged illegal financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential election run by the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has been granted £1m bail by the high court in London. French police are seeking to extradite Alexandre Djouhri to… Read More

7th November 2017

SocGen investigated over possible French anti-corruption law breach

7 November 2017 By Maya Nikolaeva Societe Generale said the French financial prosecutor had opened a preliminary investigation into possible violations by the bank of French anti-corruption laws, and had requested documents on its ties with the Libyan Investment Authority. Earlier this year Societe Generale agreed to pay nearly 1… Read More

1st November 2017

US terror attack: Trump stepping up extreme vetting

Hours after a truck driver mowed down eight cyclists, in what is being called the first deadly attack in New York since the 11 September, 2001 strikes, United States president Donald Trump said that he had ordered more robust “extreme vetting” of travellers coming into the country. “I have just… Read More

16th October 2017

How extremists smuggled $1bn in cigarettes to finance terror

Smuggling cigarettes has become such a profitable business for extremist groups, so much that former Algerian military commander of al-Qaeda in Maghreb extremist Mokhtar Belmokhtar was also known as Mr. Marlboro. More than three quarters of all cigarettes smoked in Libya are illicit, as over 13 billion cigarettes in the… Read More

5th April 2017

Spanish authorities seize Al-Assad’s uncle assets over money laundering

Spain has ordered properties to be seized and bank accounts frozen in a money laundering investigation linked to the family of Rifaat al-Assad, BBC said. Judiciary officials said that the uncle of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad was handed $300m of public money when he was sent into exile in 1984.Now… Read More

30th March 2017

EU court lifts sanctions on Gaddafi’s daughter

Europe’s second-highest court on Tuesday lifted sanctions on the daughter of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, arguing the changed situation in Libya no longer justified the measures, Reuters reported. As part of sanctions imposed in 2011 over serious human rights violations in Libya, Aisha Muammer Mohamed El-Gaddafi was included on… Read More

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