Africa Confidential Magazine Sheds Light on the Funds Gaddafi Transferred to the U.S. – and Their Link to National Unity

A report published by Africa Confidential magazine has revealed the network of American banks used by Muammar Gaddafi to secretly transfer around $50 billion out of Libya between 1994 and 2011.

According to the report, between 1972 and 2023, Libya generated $1.25 trillion in oil revenues. Between 1994 and 2011 — the last 15 years of Gaddafi’s rule — Libyan government officials secretly transferred about $50 billion of this immense wealth into U.S. bank accounts, bypassing international sanctions. Initially, the funds were to be deposited in credit institutions in Germany and Switzerland, then moved to the United States.

The report adds that in May of this year, John Hamilton, Director General of Kron Border Information, filed a case reconstructing the system Gaddafi created and reinforced to hide a portion of the wealth accumulated over three decades in secure locations. Among the most significant documents are those found in September 2011, during the critical weeks of Gaddafi’s fall, in the office of then-Intelligence Chief Abdullah Al-Senussi.

British expert on Libyan asset recovery and advisor to LARMO, Jonathan Berman, told Africa Confidential that “between 1994 and 2011, LARMO secretly invested $17.3 billion in U.S. debt securities, most of which were U.S. Treasury bonds of varying maturities, using European intermediaries and banks. At least another $10 billion was transferred to bank deposits.”

The report also notes that in recent years, the Libyan government has coordinated efforts to recover billions of dollars transferred by Gaddafi to the U.S. In 2021, Mohamed Al-Mansli was appointed Director General of LARMO by the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity in Tripoli.

Since taking office, Al-Mansli has uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of assets allegedly used by the Gaddafi regime to purchase shares, bonds, real estate, diamonds, gold, airplanes, and yachts in Africa, Europe, and North America. These efforts were carried out in cooperation with international bodies such as the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the UK’s National Crime Agency. In Africa, South Africa was reportedly one of the main beneficiaries of these financial transfers, according to South African intelligence agents and a former senior government official in Pretoria who spoke to The Epoch Times. These sources claim that Gaddafi’s regime transferred about $20 billion to banks in South Africa, including $30 million in cash currently hidden in the small kingdom of Eswatini.

The report adds that in early December, Al-Mansli met with officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury in Washington to inform them of his office’s intention to file a lawsuit against the U.S. banks involved in the case. However, just weeks later, things began to deteriorate for the LARMO director.

According to an analysis by the Middle East Institute, Al-Mansli’s detention was partly due to the silence of the Dabaiba government — the same government that had appointed him in 2021 — and partly due to the indifference of key Western countries, including the U.S., which continued to meet with the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity despite knowing about Al-Mansli’s arrest.

The report continued by stating that Dabaiba’s indifference in this case reveals nothing new about the current balance of power in Tripoli, where it is certainly not the government that holds control — but rather, armed groups.

The report concludes that it remains unclear why there was such a short time between Al-Mansli’s meeting in Washington — where he announced his intention to seek compensation from the U.S. banks that received part of Gaddafi’s fortune — and the sudden charges brought against him by the Anti-Corruption Authority, followed by his months-long detention and the total neglect that followed his release.

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