An armed group, reportedly affiliated with Mahmoud Hamza, stormed the headquarters of the Audit Bureau in the capital, Tripoli, on Wednesday morning, seeking to bring Anwar Al-Housh into the building and install him as Deputy Head of the Audit Bureau, without any prior announcement that his appointment procedures had been completed or any clear decision authorising him to assume his duties.
According to sources within the Bureau, employees refused to allow the armed group to enter the premises in this manner, arguing that imposing a fait accompli by force cannot serve as a substitute for the legal and institutional procedures required to assume a sovereign position.
The incident stems from a letter reportedly issued by Mohamed Takala, President of the High Council of State, appointing Al-Housh as Deputy Head of the Audit Bureau. However, the appointment sparked objections within the Council over what was described as a breach of established institutional and legal procedures.
In a letter addressed to the Head of the Audit Bureau, Naji Mokhtar, First Deputy President of the High Council of State, confirmed that the Council’s leadership had been unaware of Al-Housh’s appointment. He called for the letter attributed to the Council to be disregarded and for no administrative or legal consequences to be attached to it until its authenticity had been verified and the prescribed legal and institutional procedures had been completed.
In a separate letter addressed to the Head of the Audit Bureau, the Council also called for any decisions or appointments concerning the position of Deputy Head of the Bureau to be disregarded unless issued by the competent authority. It noted that, under the Political Agreement and applicable Libyan legislation, the appointment of individuals to sovereign positions falls under specific jurisdictions and established procedures.
Meanwhile, the Audit Bureau denied that Anwar Al-Housh had formally assumed his duties as Deputy Head, confirming, according to an internal source, that he had been brought into the institution’s headquarters at gunpoint, amid the employees’ unanimous opposition.
The source said Al-Housh took a photograph inside one of the Bureau’s offices and subsequently used it to suggest that he had officially assumed his duties. However, the source explained that his presence in the office does not legally establish that the handover procedures had been completed, nor does it confer official status upon him in the absence of a valid decision issued by the competent authority.
According to the same source, the Bureau maintains its objection to the appointment on two principal grounds: first, the absence of a clear legal basis for Al-Housh to assume his duties; and second, its rejection of anyone being forcibly brought into a sovereign institution, an act that undermines its independence, erodes the authority of the state, and turns an administrative dispute into a security incident.
The incident reveals acute tensions between political decisions, legal procedures, and the use of force to impose arrangements within an oversight institution that is supposed to operate independently. It also raises questions about which authority issued the appointment, whether the procedures followed were legally sound, and who is responsible for securing state institutions and preventing them from being stormed.
The escalation comes amid the absence of any publicly announced position from the Government of National Unity, which is responsible for protecting state institutions in the capital, Tripoli, clarifying the circumstances surrounding the armed group’s entry into the Audit Bureau’s headquarters, and identifying the party that authorised the entry or failed to prevent it.
