São Paulo – Libya should try to repatriate its stolen capital deposited abroad. The information was disclosed by the deputy prime minister of Foreign Business in the Arab country, Abdelrazack Al-Kuwaydi, last week, after a meeting with a delegation from the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (Star), an organisation that is managed in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
At the meeting with the group that visited Libya, the topics discussed covered means for recovery of assets. Together with the Star delegation, the ministers identified where the stolen goods are and found accounts in foreign banks, informed a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Business, Badr Al-Dinne Al-Ghaylouchi, according to African news agency Panapress .
Star was established in 2008 and is a programme turned to helping the governments of developing countries to repatriate stolen funds that were sent abroad. One of the methods used by Star is generating awareness in developed nations for identification of capital and return to the origin. The idea is that, with these funds, social projects and programmes may be funded to help fight poverty in the country.
It is common for this kind of problem to occur, with goods and works of art being taken abroad illegally when a country undergoes a war or violent political or social change, leaving it with no legal order for days, moths or even years. Libya had its president, dictator Muamar Kadafi, deposed after a period of battles between the official forces and the movement led by rebels.
The Arab country has been working to develop, with recovery of oil production and governability. Halfway through last year, Libya promoted its first election after Kadafi, electing 200 members of the National Congress. Also elected, soon after, was the president of the congress and prime minister, Aly Zaidan, who currently rules the country.
Aid to Egypt
Even as it attempts to retrieve its funds, Libya will help Egypt minimize its financial crisis. According to information from newspaper Financial Times and news agency Lana, Libya is sending a million barrels of oil a month to Egypt, in addition to lending US$ 2 billion and facilitating visa issuance for Egyptian workers. The measures are part of an agreement signed by the two countries to reduce tension and supply difficulties in Egypt, whose economy is in a crisis.
*Translated by Mark Ament
