The Board of Trustees of the Libyan Investment Authority held its regular first meeting for the year 2023 on Sunday, chaired by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. The meeting was attended by the Board of Trustees, the Institution’s Board of Directors, and the teams from the global firms Deloitte and EY, serving as external auditors for the institution.
The meeting focused on reviewing the Board of Directors’ activity report for the fiscal year 2023, the external auditor’s report on the institution’s accounts for previous years, and the institution’s plan for the year 2024.
Ali Mahmoud presented a visual presentation demonstrating the alignment of accounts and financial statements, preparation of consolidated financial statements, and the measures taken by the institution regarding judicial reservations in collaboration with the legal affairs management and the prosecutor’s office. The institution’s financial management was also reviewed in various local and international banking and economic institutions.
The Deloitte team presented the steps taken in previous years to reach the financial reports according to international financial reporting standards, considering that these reports have not been approved since 2008.
The Ernst & Young (EY) team provided a visual presentation on its activity with the institution as an external auditor, outlining the financial assets of the institution and its subsidiaries that were financially reviewed in its report completed in the middle of the current year.
The company’s team clarified that the action plan includes the need for a practice guide according to international standards for the company and its subsidiaries, ensuring the government’s involvement in the institution’s work and engagement in the Santiago Initiative, combating corruption, supporting terrorism, and money laundering. The need for automation contributing to the preparation of consolidated financial statements was emphasized, along with the necessity of inventorying liabilities as an essential step in the auditing process.
Prime Minister Dbeibeh stressed the importance of continuing cooperation with internationally accredited institutions in completing consolidated financial statements, reviewing procedures for all assets of the institution, and working according to international financial reporting standards.
Dbeibeh added that the institution has been delayed in recent years in preparing consolidated financial statements, appointing an external international auditor to ensure transparency of procedures. He commended the current efforts of the Board of Directors in completing this important and fundamental file.
The Prime Minister emphasized to the Board of Directors the need to present investment plans for the institution and its subsidiaries, considering it as the Libyan sovereign fund, while adhering to transparency standards and disclosing all its procedures.