Belgium appointed Gaddafi’s billions.. Libya refuses and warns
Years after his departure, the Libyan authorities announced that they would prevent the Crown Prince of Belgium, Prince Laurent, from seizing her money deposited in his country’s banks as compensation, after the collapse of his deal with the regime of the late leader. Muammar Gaddafito reforest thousands of hectares of desert, due to Libya’s entry into the 2011 conflict.
The move by the Libyan authorities came after the Belgian Court of Appeal issued, on Friday, a ruling confirming the freezing of 15 billion euros of the funds of the Libyan Investment Authority in the Euroclear bank in Brussels.
While Prince Laurent is demanding compensation amounting to 50 million euros after the failure of the completion of the contract concluded with the Libyan Ministry of Agriculture in 2008 with the Libyan Ministry of Agriculture, to reforest thousands of hectares of the desert, which was not completed due to Entering Libya In a civil war in 2011, it overthrew the rule of its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Libya refuses
In response, the Libyan Investment Authority said, in a statement on Saturday, that the Brussels court ruling was issued in an appeal submitted by the institution as part of the lawsuits filed before the Belgian judiciary to confront the Belgian Prince Laurent’s attempts to access its funds at Euroclear Bank, which are frozen according to Security Council resolutions.
She also added that the ruling did not decide any new procedures, but rather rejected the institution’s requests, noting that it was not a party to the contract signed in 2008.
She explained that she had submitted a request to the Belgian government that all measures taken against her assets in Belgium were illegal, and that, according to the investment promotion agreement concluded between Libya, Belgium and Luxembourg in 2004, this dispute must be resolved through negotiation within 6 months between the two parties.
It also stressed that it will spare no effort to prevent Prince Laurent from his illegal attempts to access its funds deposited with Euroclear Bank, as it is concerned with preserving these assets for the benefit of the Libyan people, and that it is ready to resort to international arbitration to resolve this dispute.
more than 15 billion euros
It is noteworthy that the Belgian authorities froze the financial accounts belonging to Gaddafi in their banks after his killing in 2011, in response to a UN decision, with a value of more than 15 billion euros, most of which were in the “Euroclear” company.
Statement of the Libyan Investment Corporation
Statement of the Libyan Investment Corporation
Gaddafi’s money
Gaddafi’s billions in Belgium sparked widespread controversy in 2018, after it was revealed that more than $5 billion had disappeared from his accounts in Belgian banks.
While the file of Libya’s assets and funds abroad raises concerns inside the country about the loss and dissolution of these wealth to the Libyans, and the existence of plans to seize them in the absence of final numbers and clear rates about Libyan investments abroad and their locations, and the lack of movement by officials to pursue, follow-up and monitor them, due to The continuing political division in the country.
In addition, the Government of National Unity, in an attempt to recover its frozen assets abroad, formed an office to recover state funds and manage recovered assets, after monitoring lawsuits filed by some countries and individuals to seize those funds under the pretext of compensation for idled investments in Libya due to war conditions.
