Naziha Ashour, the Undersecretary of Justice Ministry and a member of the Follow-up Committee for Judgments against Libyan Funds at the Belgian Euroclear Bank, stated on Monday, that the issuance of a decision to arrest the head of the Libyan Investment Authority, “Ali Mahmoud” from the Belgian court, aims to pressure Libya to seize a financial value from its frozen funds.

She revealed that the purpose of the arrest warrant was to pressure the Libyan state to pay an amount of 47 million euros, in which a judgment was issued by the Belgian Civil Court in favor of Prince Leon of the Kingdom of Belgium against the Ministry of Agriculture, noting that this decision took a political direction rather than being legal.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice considered that Belgium’s resort to seizing the funds frozen in the Euroclear bank is dangerous and infringement on the funds of the Libyan Investment Authority.

She noted that 15 billion euros are still frozen in the Belgian Euroclear bank under Security Council Resolution No. 1973 of 2011.

Naziha Ashour added that the funds transferred are only the interests on the frozen assets, amounting to 2 billion and 200 million euros, and were transferred during the period from 2011 to 2018 based on the approval of the Belgian government represented by the Minister of Treasury, in a manner that does not contradict the Security Council resolution regarding freezing of funds.

She pointed out that the issuance of a new Security Council decree in 2018, stating the freezing of interests on frozen assets, and since its issuance, no amounts have been transferred.