Where is Muammar Gaddafi’s money? The so-called Panama Papers could now shed light on the search for this incredible fortune.
A central figure in the search for Gaddafi’s money is a man called Bashir Saleh Bashir, who was once the Libyan leader’s chief of staff and right-hand man. In Libya, he is still known as “Gaddafi’s banker.”
According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Bashir is alleged to have invested and hidden the private wealth of the Gaddafi clan. In addition, he used to manage a multi-billion-dollar branch of Libyan state funds: namely, the oil-funded money reserve to which Gaddafi had free access.
The so-called “Libya Africa Investment Portfolio” invested oil business proceeds in other African states, but where exactly the money flowed to can no longer be determined.
Aassets belonging to Gaddafi’s banker, Bashir, were also frozen by the European Union and Switzerland. The state-run Libya Africa Investment Portfolio was, shortly thereafter, included on the sanctions list of the United Nations Security Council, due to its status as a “potential source of funding” for the Libyan regime.
The Libya Africa Investment Portfolio owned shares of a front company called Vision Oil Services Limited, which Libya-experts Süddeutsche Zeitung contacted had no prior knowledge of.
Only on March 10, 2011, when the end of the Gaddafi regime becameapparent, were all outstanding invoices suddenly paid in full and was a “Certificate of Good Standing” obtained to reactivate the company.
The offshore company was camouflaged perfectly. Neither the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio nor Bashir were mentioned in any of the official documents.
A Saudi Arabian man operating as the firm’s sham director and general manager had the power of attorney to open accounts at the Geneva bank Pictet, the Viennese branch of Landsbanki Luxembourg and Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. This Saudi Arabian man was said to have previously done business with Jordanian oil smugglers and spent time in a Libyan prison for money-related offenses that maybe have been directly related to Gaddafi.
The local authorities of the British Virgin Islands deactivated the front company due to its outstanding administrative fees. It is not known if potential company assets had been transferred prior to this, and this information cannot be gleaned from the contents of the Panama Papers.
Bashir, however, suddenly re-emerged in Niger before disappearing again. He was sighted in South Africa several times and, according to rumors, lives in Swaziland. He is said to be the only person privy to all the secrets of Libyan investments in Africa, or so suggests the rumor-mill in Tripolis. Bashir does not speak with the press and couldn’t be reached by Süddeutsche Zeitung for a request for comment.
A breakthrough in the search for Gaddafi’s treasure seemed imminent in 2012, when Libya’s former head of intelligence services, Abdullah Sanussi, reported that Gaddafi had buried his gold in the Libyan desert.
According to Libyan investigators, the country’s Organisation for Development of Administrative Centres (ODAC) — a gigantic ministry handling all state business and overseen by Dabaiba — awarded business contracts worth billions of dollars to numerous companies with direct links to Dabaiba’s family.
According to press reports, when auditors examined these business contracts more closely after Gaddafi’s fall, they discovered creative bookkeeping practices. According to these reports one of Gaddafi’s advisors explained to investigators that ODAC discrepancies had emerged quite early on, but these were not examined in any detail seeing as Gaddafi and as his sons were involved in managing ODAC.
Dabaiba did not answer Süddeutsche Zeitung’s request for comment. The Dabaiba family nevertheless wrote to the Guardian dismissing the allegations as baseless. Their Libyan lawyer claimed they are “not wanted by any judicial, financial or security bodies”.
“Although the disreputable Dabaiba changed sides at the height of the Libyan civil war and financed the rebels in his hometown of Misrata, the new government nonetheless froze his assets and placed his name on a list of men who were suspected of having embezzled state funds. He eventually moved to London, where his family owns a few valuable properties. Libyan investigators accuse Dabaiba of having dished out contracts worth several million dollars to companies either he or one of his relatives managed. He is said to have smuggled the profits from these dealings abroad through a network of shell companies.” Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
However, this might soon change. Many of the front companies, presumably owned by Gaddafi’s loyal cronies, were managed by Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal that broke in April of this year.
The name of British national Riad G. appears in the documents repeatedly in connection with several of the front companies that Libyan investigators attribute to Dabaiba.
Riad G. went to school in Libya and attended university in London. His Facebook page indicates that he is connected to the Dabaiba family. He apparently once owned half the shares of a hotel in the Scottish Highlands: the company behind the hotel ownership was used to hide Libyan state funds, according to a document written by Libyan investigators, who were seeking legal help from the British and Scottish authorities.
Süddeutsche Zeitung and Guardian have been able to access parts of these documents, which accuse Dabaiba of abuse of office and illegal money transfers that harmed the public budget, among other things.
According to the trade register, the company behind the luxury hotel is run by two men who received ODAC contracts worth several million in 2008.
Scottish authorities confirmed that investigations into this matter are currently underway. Investigators, for their part, are disinclined to believe Dabaiba’s most recent declaration of assets, which stated that he only owns a few cars, some jewelry and a farm with four camels.