Gaddafi’s SA stash looted

Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi

Published Dec 14, 2014

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Johannesburg -

Rogue elements in the South African business world who have access to some of the Libyan loot hidden in locations around Joburg have begun to plunder it.

It has emerged that some involved in tracking the loot have been threatened with death, while one of the companies claiming to represent the Libyan government may be linked to Muslim fundamentalist groups.

There is concern in South African intelligence circles that two men with strong extreme fundamentalist links have been among those who met government officials recently to discuss the Libyan assets issue.

Sources revealed to The Sunday Independent that Libyans Abdelhakim Belhadj and Ibrahim Jadhran were in South Africa and met senior government officials. Belhadj is alleged to have strong Muslim fundamentalist links and Jadhran made world headlines when he went rogue, seizing ports, blocking oil exports and demanding more autonomy and shared revenues for his eastern region in Libya, which he calls by its ancient Roman name, Cyrenaica.

On the theft of the assets, several sources have revealed that while the bulk of the estimated R2.6 trillion is intact, some of it – in dollars and gold – was being stolen by various people.

Some of the dollars have found their way to private homes and hidden locations of individuals while some of the gold has been processed at refineries around Gauteng and sold in the international market.

Intelligence sources said the revenue from the gold, believed to run into billions of dollars, has been banked offshore and tracked by global intelligence agencies.

Some of it has been tracked to financial capitals in the Middle East.

One of those threatened with death is a former special forces officer involved in tracking the Libyan assets.

He told The Sunday Independent he had found, pinned on his door in a secure golf estate, a note threatening him with death. The ex-officer, who asked that his name be withheld, said he was concerned about his safety.

“They are out to get me,” he said.

The Sunday Independent exclusively exposed that an estimated R2.6 trillion in Libyan cash was locked up in warehouses in seven locations between Joburg and Pretoria.

The presence of the loot has attracted the attention of the UN and the US.

The UN has adopted a binding resolution which forces all countries which have Libyan assets to freeze and prepare them for repatriation.

The battle for recognition by the South African government by two companies purporting to represent Libya took a turn this week.

A special body formed by the Libyan government to trace and recover stolen Libyan assets this week wrote to The Sunday Independent thanking us for publishing the story and clarifying who their genuine representative is.

According to Mohammed Tag, the Washington African Consulting Group (WACG) was the only company mandated by the Libyan government to act on its behalf.

Tag rejected Sam Serj, which has also claimed legitimacy and has met President Jacob Zuma and other cabinet ministers. He said the firm had a mandate relating to one bank account in South Africa but the mandate had expired.

Tag alleged that the documents Sam Serj had presented to the South African government were counterfeit and false. “It is an attempt to divert Libyan assets to their own benefit,” he said.

However, Taha Buishi, Sam Serj chief executive, maintained his company had the mandate of the Libyan government.

“I will not comment on what Erik Goalied (chief executive of WACG) and Tag are saying about our authorisation. Very soon everyone will know who the official authorised body is,” Buishi said.

He said his firm had contracted a Pretoria-based law firm to manage its affairs in South Africa.

- Sunday Independent

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