Brussels investigating judge Michel Claise has opened an inquiry into whether Belgian banks violated a UN freeze on Libyan assets, local media said Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2018) Brussels investigating judge Michel Claise has opened an inquiry into whether Belgian banks violated a UN freeze on Libyan assets, local media said Monday.The probe into the suspected illegal disbursement of interests and dividends on frozen accounts comes after months of denial from Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and silence from the rest of the cabinet.
The magistrate will try to find out where the money went and who benefited from it, according to Belgium's RTBF broadcaster, one of the media investigating the matter.
The United Nations froze all foreign accounts belonging to the government of deposed Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Roughly $16 billion was stored in four Belgian banks. Up to $5.7 billion have left these accounts since 2012.
"Hundreds of millions of Euros have been disbursed and we don't know to whom," Georges Gilkinet, a member of Federal parliament from the Green Party, told RTBF.
A UN Security Council report, obtained by the outlet, found Belgium in violation of its obligation to freeze the Libyan accounts last month.
The report suggested that the Libyan Investment Authority was one of the recipients. In turn, the broadcaster said the money had gone to numerous militant groups in war-torn Libya that have been involved in human trafficking.
