Libya hires auditors for state fund

Libya’s efforts to reclaim the frozen assets of its sovereign wealth fund are set to intensify with the announcement that it will appoint auditors before the year-end.

According to Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohamed, chairperson and chief executive of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the appointed auditor will conduct a wide-ranging examination of its assets in 2019.

As much as 70% of the fund’s assets have been frozen under UN sanctions following the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Undergoing the audit is designed to strengthen the trust of the international community in the LIA and to enable the UN to check the assets of the fund, said Mohamed.

He denied that any money was missing from the fund and that more than $1 billion of transfers from European bank accounts linked to the LIA to its accounts were a result of dividends and interest payments on its fixed income and equities holdings and therefore not covered by the sanctions.

©2018 funds global mena

Related Articles