In this report, C4ADS (a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing data-driven analysis and evidence-based reporting on global conflict and transnational security issues) traces the delivery of Russian-produced banknotes to General Haftar’s forces in Libya – and profiles the actors behind the trade.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire – and money is usually not far behind. And in Libya’s case, Russian trade and customs data confirmed the aerial delivery of bank notes to the Khalifa Haftar-backed government in Eastern Libya. Once inside the country, foreign commercial air freight providers based in the former Soviet Union appear to distribute hard currency to far-flung outposts of the warring sides.
On January 29, 2019, a Youtube account operated by forces linked to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar released a video documenting the aerial delivery of multiple crates containing unspecified bank notes in Southern Libya. The transport aircraft – an Ilyushin (IL-76) cargo aircraft, Registration Number UP-I7645 – reportedly travelled from Benghazi. According to visual evidence, the plane appeared to be operated by Sigma Airlines, a Kazakhstan-based air freight company. In 2019, the same company was identified by UN investigators as one of four commercial air freight providers operating inside Libya in potential breach of the 2011 UN weapons embargo.
Sigma Airlines Ilyushin IL76D (Registration Number: UP-I7645) reportedly arriving in Tamanhant, Southern Libya from Benghazi
The January 29 video included interviews with personnel at the airbase who described the cargo as a cash delivery from the “Central Bank in Eastern Libya” destined for local distribution to commercial banks in the South. The video also included multiple images of wooden crates transferred from the cargo hold onto vehicles waiting nearby. Each visible crate bore the stamp: “CBL, Co. of January 31, 2017., Al Bayda, Libya”. The “CBL” stamp appeared to be a likely abbreviation for the Central Bank of Libya’s branch in Al Bayda , the parliamentary seat of Libya’s rival eastern government.
This alleged aerial delivery of hard currency is itself not surprising. Libya has been gripped by a long-running currency crisis exacerbated by the 2014 split of the Libyan Central Bank into two rival factions. This division was sparked by a wider political crisis that, in 2014, divided an already-feeble transitional government into eastern and western blocs. This division re-ignited conflict between the internationally-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) – based in Tripoli – and its eastern rival that operates out of Tobruk, Al Bayda, and Benghazi.
Resumed fighting disrupted the already-precarious ground transportation of cash reserves from Central Bank headquarters to branches in the Libyan interior. And with shifting lines of territorial control, the aerial movement of currency became an important, and more secure, alternative. Much of this domestic aerial traffic is blocked from public view. However, sporadic disclosures such as the January 29, 2019 Youtube revelation re-ignited public interest in the logistics behind these aerial deliveries – and the potential role of foreign actors in these transfers. This interest is backed by public reporting of Russia’s role in the printing and delivery of alternative bank notes to General Khalifa Haftar and the Eastern government – an aerial operation that dates back to 2016.
The Hunt for Libya’s Foreign-Printed Bank Notes through Open Data
Through the combination of customs, trade, and open source flight data, C4ADS researchers dug further into the mechanics of hard currency transfers into Libya. Our research uncovered a years-long pipeline of cash-related exports likely sent to each of Libya’s rival governments by the United Kingdom (UK), Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others.
C4ADS analysis identified the recorded transfer of an estimated $28 million (approximately $38 million Libyan dinars) in currency printed in Russia between May 2016 and September 2018. These transfers appeared in Russian trade data as dispatches – by air – to the Central Bank of Libya branch in Al Bayda. This same branch of the Central Bank appeared imprinted on the cash-filled boxes flown to the Haftar-controlled airbase in Southern Libya during the January 29, 2019 incident.
Elsewhere, publicly available trade data accessed through UN Comtrade revealed that the United Kingdom was the top exporter of bank note-related products sent to Libya between 2014 and 2019. UK exports were followed closely by Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), both of which materially support Khalifa Haftar’s government in the East. The UK and Russian exports were reportedly printed by two commercial companies – De La Rue (UK) and Goznak (Russia) – with the end recipients being the two rival Central Bank branches in Tripoli and Al Bayda, respectively.
The Trade-Based View of Libya’s Foreign Currency Infusions
According to the United Nations International Trade Statistics Database (also known as UN Comtrade), approximately $227 million in bank notes and other related currency products were exported to Libya between 2014 and 2019. These amounts represent the total number of currency-related exports to Libya as reported by UN member states and aggregated through the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (also known as the HS Code System).
Between 2014 and 2019, 14 countries declared exports to Libya within the HS 49.07.00 category. Several European Union-member countries reported as individual states i.e. Germany, France, and Ireland, while others simply reported collectively as the “EU-28”. Individually, the United Kingdom ranked first in all bank note-related exports to Libya between 2014 and 2019. Over the period studied, these exports amounted to approximately $91 million in total trade value.
Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were a distant second and third, respectively. Russia reported approximately $27 million in exports within the HS 49.07.00 category between 2014 and 2019. And the United Arab Emirates reported approximately $5 million within the same HS category.
Tracing Russia’s Currency Airlift into Eastern Libya
According to Russian customs data reviewed by C4ADS, Goznak (АО ГОЗНАК), a Russian state-owned mint, supplied approximately $23 million in 18 separate shipments to the Central Bank of Libya branch in Al Bayda, Eastern Libya. Goznak was listed as the consignor for each transfer while the Al Bayda branch of the Central Bank was listed as the consignee at the following address: “AL-BAYDA, RING ROAD.”
The reviewed customs data reviewed did not include specific details about the aircraft involved in each transfer. It did, however, confirm that at least 15 of the 18 transfers were intended for aerial delivery. The 20 and 50 Libyan dinar notes described in these transfers appeared to match publicly-reported deliveries from Russia in July 2016 and May 2017 in both type of currency and delivery timeline. Both of these deliveries entered Libya through the same Haftar-controlled airport of Al Abraq. This is the same airport that was listed as the intended destination for the 18 export transfers reported in Russia’s domestic customs and trade records.
Due to the lack of consistent and reliable open source flight data between Russia and Libya, tracking the direct movement of banknote shipments between the two countries is difficult. However, the aerial cash delivery documented in the January 29 Youtube video suggests that once inside the country, these foreign cash infusions are also potentially circulated by air due to the attendant risk of ground movement while fighting continues. Additionally, the use of foreign air freight companies such as Sigma Airlines raised additional questions about the operational history of foreign airlines inside Libya and within the region.
Source: https://c4ads.org/