Economist Mohamed Al-Safi told our source in an exclusive statement: “Using technology to fight corruption – after the success of the ‘Instant Salary’ initiative, it is now time for the Customs Tracking System.”
He continued: “The ‘Instant Salary’ initiative introduced more organized procedures and reduced chaos in the salaries sector. It became clear how technology can play a key role in reducing corruption and enhancing administrative efficiency. In a new step, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with Customs, are working on implementing a new system known as the Advanced Cargo Information (ACI) tracking system.”
He explained: “This system aims to monitor imported goods from the moment they leave the exporting country until they enter Libya, thereby significantly limiting harmful practices such as currency smuggling and product quality manipulation. Some of the most notable illegal practices include:
- False imports: declaring much larger quantities than what actually enters the country (e.g., stating an invoice of 1,000 boxes while only 500 are imported).
- Commercial fraud: supplying products of lower quality or entirely different from what was declared in the official documents (e.g., claiming modern medical equipment arrived, but in reality delivering broken equipment).
- No imports at all: in some cases, bribes are paid to obtain customs documents without importing any goods (with bribes reaching around 40,000 dinars for every million dinars of declared imports).”
He concluded: “By adopting the tracking system, we can set limits on these practices. However, I expect strong resistance from beneficiaries — just as happened previously during the tenure of Mr. Faraj Bumtari. Therefore, I hope there will be strong pressure to implement it, as is done in many countries that respect their borders and their citizens.”
