The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) has affirmed its rejection of the Belgian government request to the UN Sanctions Committee aimed at lifting the freeze to deduct part of Libya’s frozen bank assets in Belgium.

In a statement, the LIA confirmed that it had no contractual relations with the Belgian GSDT, owned by the Belgian Prince Laurent Foundation, which submitted the request.”Belgium’s request to lift the asset freeze is unjustified and contradicts the resolutions of the UN Sanctions Committee.

We call on the UN to act appropriately and actively reject this request.” the LIA said.The LIA insisted that it is a separate legal and financial entity to the Libyan state, adding that there are no legal grounds for Belgium to settle the debts of the state using funds which belong to LIA and its subsidiaries.

” Our assets belong to the people of Libya, not the state,” the LIA added.The request has been made on behalf of a Belgian entity which has no contractual relationship with either the LIA or its subsidiaries; the entity has previously been refused in similar attempts to unfreeze our assets in the past.

The LIA has already communicated clearly with both the Belgian Government and the UN Sanctions Committee to express our strong opposition to this action.LIA also reiterated the calls of Taher Sonni and the Libyan Government and calls on the UN to urgently reject this request and support LIA in fulfilling its role to preserve the wealth of the Libyan people.