Johannesburg - The UN has turned to fired ANC security chief Tito Maleka for help in finding the hidden Libyan billions, a request that is likely to spark a diplomatic ruction between Pretoria and the world body.
The move tacitly indicates that UN has little confidence in the SA government’s assistance as the Department of International Relations played ignorant to the world body’s request this week.
The Sunday Independent has reliably established that the panel of experts advising the UN Security Council Libya Sanctions Committee has contacted Maleka requesting his assistance to find out where Gaddafi’s loot is hidden in South Africa. The panel was set up to monitor assets frozen by the UN Security Council to starve Gaddafi of resources in the wake of the rebellion against him in early 2011.
Maleka has hauled the ANC before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration for what he calls unfair dismissal. His case is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday. He refused to comment on his communication with the UN.
ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said the ANC did not deem it necessary to comment on the issue as it was “a government matter”.
“If there is anybody who needs to comment on this issue it is government because that is where it is being handled. The ANC is not commenting on those processes,” said Khoza.
Sources within the ANC believe that Maleka was sacrificed for his knowledge of senior ANC and government officials who know the whereabouts of the sought-after Libyan assets.
The treasure trove, said to have been hidden in South Africa and neighbouring countries, is estimated at $10 billion (R98bn) and allegedly includes gold, diamonds and cash. It is understood that one of the two specialists on the five-member panel, Simon Dilloway, wrote to Maleka on August 5 expressing concern that the UN was experiencing “difficulties” in ascertaining whether large quantities of Libyan funds were in and around South Africa.
Dilloway is said to have told Maleka that the panel understands that he may have reliable information concerning the assets.
The UN sanctions committee on Libya wanted Maleka to help it “correctly” identify the illegally transferred assets so that the South African government can freeze them. Dilloway is said to have offered to meet with Maleka face-to-face and thanked him for “co-operating with the UN on the matter”.
The Sunday Independent’s effort to get response from the UN has so far been unsuccessful, with the office of the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, referring questions to the UN Libya sanctions committee.
The committee’s chairman, Eugéne-Richard Gasana, Rwanda’s ambassador to the world body, could not be reached. Dilloway had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.
The panel, appointed on April 18 last year, has visited 15 countries.
Its report, dated February 15, 2013, shows South Africa appears to be not fully co-operating with the UN panel of experts.
The panel sent two letters to South Africa – between October and January – requesting information on the Libyan assets.
In terms of the report’s section on the levels of responsiveness, South Africa, on both occasions, failed to supply “full and partial information” on the Libyan assets and funds.
However, in late June, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said there was no evidence of Libyan funds and assets brought to South Africa under dubious circumstances.
Gordhan said he met a Libyan delegation led by Usama al Abid, the Minister in the office of the Libyan Prime Minister, and agreed with them that the repatriation of the illegally transferred Libyan assets – if found in South Africa – would be done in accordance with UN protocols. The national Treasury has since confirmed that the Libyan government has a stake in the Michelangelo Towers in Sandton, the Centurion Lake Hotel, the Commodore and Portswood hotels in Cape Town, and the Kruger Park Lodge in Mpumalanga.
When contacted this week about the UN’s move to get help from Maleka, Gordhan’s spokesman, Jabulani Sikhakhane, referred questions to the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
International relations spokesman Clayson Monyela said his department was not aware that the UN had contacted Maleka. Asked whether the UN was turning to Maleka because South Africa appeared to be not fully co-operating, Monyela said: “South Africa is engaging with both the UN and the Libyan authorities on the issue of Libyan assets in a constructive and co-operative manner.”
The UN panel’s report also noted that the team had gathered “substantial” information that there were efforts by certain individuals to “negate the effects of the asset freeze measures by the use of front companies and through accomplices in various member states”.
It is not clear which companies in South Africa could be involved in frustrating efforts to repatriate Libyan assets or trying to divert them into their coffers.
The Libyan government has also raised concerns that “certain unauthorised persons and companies are trying to move the assets illegally”.
In letters to Gordhan and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, dated May 9, the Libyan government appealed to South Africa to help it “prevent any such attempts against Libyan funds and assets”.
Sam Serj is the company officially tasked by the Libyan government to recover the assets.
Last week, a representative from the company, Taha Buishi, expressed shock at Maleka’s dismissal by the ANC.
Buishi said Maleka was their initial contact with the South African government. “Maleka was very helpful to the Libyans and their cause. Maleka never asked for anything from the Libyan government for his co-operation on the matter. My personal point of view is that Maleka must be rewarded and reinstated in his job,” he said.
Sunday Independent