By Stephan Hofstatter and Mzilikazi Wa Afrika
The Sunday Times, Johannesburg
Sunday, June 2, 2013
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2013/06/02/gaddafi-billions-found-in-sa...
The hunt for slain Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi's missing billions has moved to South Africa, where
a fortune in cash, gold and diamonds is believed to be stashed.
The Sunday Times has
established that Libyan investigators have already met top government
officials to discuss locating, securing and repatriating the loot brought
here by Gaddafi and his children.
The investigators believe
there is evidence of more than $1-billion in cash, gold and diamonds being
held by four banks and two security companies in South Africa.
It could be the largest
haul of Libyan assets found until now, although it is only a fraction of the
estimated $80-billion of Gaddafi's foreign assets.
It has been established that the Libyans:
-- Met President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on December 10 2012.
-- Held a follow-up
meeting with Zuma at Nkandla on April 20, which was
also attended by Libyan embassy official Salah Marghani
and Zuma's cousin, Sibusiso
"Deebo" Mzobe.
-- Met Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on April 26.
-- And wrote to Justice
Minister Jeff Radebe on May 9 for help tracing and
securing the loot and preventing "illegal attempts [to] move the
funds," sparking a probe by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
A follow-up letter sent
by ANC head of security Tito Maleka on April 23
confirms that the visit "with our president in Nkandla" is an
indication that "the South African government is prepared to
cooperate" in "identifying all assets belonging to the Libyan
people."
Marghani confirmed this week that the
Libyan investigators had met Zuma and Gordhan.
Zuma spokesman Mac Maharaj
said that Zuma "was approached by a group
saying they represented the Libyan government. They
were referred to the
National Treasury."
Gordhan's spokesman, Jabulani
Sikhakhane, also confirmed that the National
Treasury was approached by the group.
"The process of
verifying the group's claim is under way," said Sikhakhane.
The National Prosecuting
Authority, parent body of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, said it was "not in
a position to comment at the moment."
Some of the information
investigators are using to trace the funds is understood to have come from
Libya's former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi,
who was arrested in March 2012 for crimes against humanity. He is in jail in
Libya awaiting trial.
The Libyan investigators
declined to be interviewed. But Marghani said they
had "been appointed to investigate and secure assets in Africa on behalf
of the people of Libya."
This is confirmed by
letters from Libya's justice and finance ministers to their South African
counterparts. The letters ask for cooperation in tracing and securing
"all funds and assets that have been illegally possessed, obtained,
looted, deposited, or hidden in South Africa and neighbouring
countries by the late Muammar Gaddafi, his wives, his sons, his daughters,
and other relatives, close associates, private and government [or] business
persons in Africa."
The letters say that the
Libyan investigators have "uncovered large funds and assets in South Africa
and neighbouring states."
Correspondence with
government, bank, and ANC officials, minutes of meetings, and a lawyer's
letter reveal that the Libyan investigators' hunt in South Africa began in
November 2012. According to the documents, one bank account, which the
investigators claim was traced through cheque stubs
found in Libya, is registered in the name of Gaddafi's uncle, Abdulhafid Ahmed el-Gaddafi, a former Libyan army
general.
They are convinced that
part of the loot in South Africa is held by Gaddafi's former chief of staff,
Bashir Saleh, known as "Gaddafi's banker."
Saleh, who also goes by
the name of Bashir al Shrkawi, is on Interpol's
wanted list. Despite this, he was reportedly seen hobnobbing with ANC
notables at the party's centenary dinner in Mangaung
in January 2012 and at the BRICs summit in Durban in March this year.
Although his whereabouts
are unknown, Libyan sources said he was spotted at the Michelangelo hotel in Sandton three weeks ago. He is believed to be travelling
between South Africa, Swaziland, and Niger.
Maleka could not be reached for comment.
Mzobe said he was present when the
Libyan investigators met Zuma and Gordhan. But he claimed it was "not a meeting --
they just greeted him" -- Zuma.
"The president said
they must talk to Pravin and I just took them to Pravin, who was clear that this was a matter between two
governments," said Mzobe. "That was the
end of my involvement."
* * *
Join GATA here:
Liberty Mastermind
Symposium
Double Tree Hotel, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
Friday-Saturday, June 28-29, 2013
http://www.libertymastermind.us/
* * *
Support GATA by
purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City
conference in August 2006:
http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html
Or by purchasing a
colorful GATA T-shirt:
http://gata.org/tshirts
Or a colorful poster
of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:
http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal
Help keep GATA going
GATA is a civil rights
and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under
the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can
subscribe at:
http://www.gata.org
To contribute to GATA,
please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16
