Economic Expert Idris Al-Sharif wrote:
“In recent days, cases of financial misconduct and corruption in Libyan banks—revealed by the Office of the Attorney General—have multiplied. I will not repeat what many scholars and specialists have already written about the causes behind the spread of this phenomenon.
However, I would like to emphasize that corruption in the banking sector represents only a small portion of the widespread corruption permeating all state bodies, ministries, and institutions—indeed, perhaps the smallest part by far!
The difference is that banks, by the nature of their work, are more disciplined from an accounting standpoint compared to other administrative institutions, and their funds are (private), which makes it easier and quicker to uncover violations and irregularities.
Although the Constitutional Declaration grants the Audit Bureau—under Article 28—the authority to exercise financial oversight over all revenues, expenditures, and movable and immovable assets owned by the state, ensuring their proper use and protection,
more than two-thirds of current public spending remains outside any form of audit or financial supervision! This includes spending by high sovereign authorities such as the House of Representatives, the High Council of State, the Presidential Council, and judicial, regulatory, security, and military bodies, as well as some executive institutions.
These entities have exempted themselves from financial review—either through tailor-made legislation serving their own interests or simply by the force of reality.
Undoubtedly, the hidden part of the corruption iceberg is far larger than we imagine. Yet we can clearly feel and observe its effects on the economy, on living standards, and in the emergence of social stratification and unjustified disparities in income levels among citizens.”
