Malta violated international law when it detained in September a batch of banknotes printed by the Russian Goznak company for the Libyan Central Bank, the printing house told Sputnik on Saturday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2020) Malta violated international law when it detained in September a batch of banknotes printed by the Russian Goznak company for the Libyan Central Bank, the printing house told Sputnik on Saturday.
The US State Department has previously announced that the Maltese authorities had confiscated an equivalent of $1.1 billion in "fake" Libyan dinars made by Goznak for the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).
"As you know, the Central Bank of Libya has two branches located in the cities of Tripoli and Tobruk, respectively. The contract, under which the batch of banknotes was made, was inked by the Goznak JSC and the Central Bank of Libya located in Tobruk," the press service said.
Goznak added that the order for money was approved by the board of directors of the Libyan Central Bank back in 2015, and the bank's right to sign such contracts was secured in 2016 by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
"Despite all the disagreements between the parties [to the conflict between LNA and GNA], this decision has not been canceled and is still in force. The corresponding contract with our company was signed by a person endowed with all the necessary powers," the company noted.
Goznak believes that Malta's detention of cargo with Libyan money grossly violated international law. The company, and its client, repeatedly within several months, requested the justification. The Maltese customs authorities reacted only this year with a statement, which "largely distorted the actual circumstances of the relationship between Goznak and the Central Bank of Libya."
The company added that the UN Security Council Committee on Libya had found the money delivery compliant with the sanctions regime.
