Exclusive: Allegations of Corruption and Money Laundering Among the Violations Uncovered by the Audit Bureau at Al-Wafa Bank and Referred to the Prosecutor

Our source has exclusively obtained a report from the Audit Bureau addressed to the Attorney General, detailing violations at Al-Wafa Bank involving documents, names, and numbers that suggest corruption and money laundering.

The documents reveal major violations and suspicions regarding the use of funds at Al-Wafa Bank, leading to the referral of responsible parties for investigation. They also disclose that some imported goods received through Misrata Port were not delivered to the country.

The report highlights the details of letters of credit issued to Al-Daleel Financial Company via Al-Wafa Bank’s branch, showing that the company obtained nine letters of credit amounting to a total of 80.712 million LYD, equivalent to $17.5 million.

According to the report’s findings, the bank branch executed the credits on December 13, 2022, deducting 9,336,860,000 LYD from the company’s account. The funds were returned to the account two days later, on December 15 of the same year, and were used to open a new credit, in violation of a Central Bank of Libya circular. Furthermore, the bank branch allowed the return of the previously deducted funds to the company’s account for the purpose of opening new credits, even though these funds belonged to the bank’s general administration.

The report also notes an incident on July 26, 2021, where a credit value of 2,048,692,000 LYD was deducted from the company’s account, and by August 4, 2021, the full amount was returned without any request from the company to cancel the credit. A data entry employee falsely recorded the transaction in the company’s account statement under “credit cancellation” to mislead auditors into believing the return was based on a customer request, which was untrue.

The Audit Bureau’s report referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office includes recommendations to investigate the following individuals:

• Abdulati Al-Tayeb, General Manager of Al-Wafa Bank
• Al-Hadi Dhiyaf, Deputy Director of Banking Operations and External Relations
• Mohamed Al-Kabir, Manager of the Bank’s Main Branch
• Abdelhamid Qaddad, Head of Letters of Credit Department at the branch
• Wissam Al-Tarifi, General Manager of Al-Daleel Company

The recommendations also call for forming a committee to review the legal files of exporting companies supplying goods via Al-Wafa Bank’s branch, to identify the board members of these companies. Examples include “Forever Trade General Company” and “Diamond Stars Trading for Plastic and Nylon Materials,” headquartered in the UAE, to establish potential links between the owners of exporting and importing companies.

The report cites Al-Mutawakkil Company, one of the exporters, where a shareholder, Suleiman Omar Aqil, a Libyan national, owns 49% of the company’s capital.