On Friday, the British Court of Appeal decided to continue the proceedings to implement the executive order against Libya, which requires it to pay £16.1 million to the aerospace and defence company General Dynamics.
General Dynamics entered into a contract with Libya to supply communications systems, but Libya did not comply with it. The parties referred the dispute to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Swiss capital, Geneva.
The ICC of Arbitration issued a decision that Libyan must pay £16.1 million to the British company. Due to Libya’s failure to pay the amount and not submit any proposal, the court concluded that Tripoli did not intend to fulfill the obligation.
Since that time, General Dynamics worked through the British judiciary to enforce the arbitral award. Last year, Libya submitted a request to cancel parts of the documents by dispensing with service, based on a defect in the reporting procedures. This required that any assets held by Libya in the jurisdiction should not be used to fulfill the arbitration award.
Notably, Libya’s representative at the United Nations’ (UN) Economic and Financial Committee meeting (Second Committee), Ahmed Motamad, called, last year, for international cooperation in locating smuggled Libyan funds and assisting in their recovery.
He confirmed that recovering the smuggled money will help Libya finance its reconstruction projects and achieve sustainable development.
Motamad explained that despite the difficulties the country is going through, it is committed to achieving the sustainable development goals adopted by the UN as part of its 2030 strategy.
He added that the sustainable development and stability support program will only be established by achieving justice, and conducting national reconciliation. He pointed out that this matter will only be achieved by ending foreign interference in the internal affairs of the country.
Notably, the smuggled and frozen funds, which include billions of dollars in cash, bonds, deposits, large hotels, lands, yachts, luxury cars, and private planes, are owned by the state, which is unable to benefit from them.
The authorities claim they do not know the total amount of the funds that were “looted and smuggled” abroad. Furthermore, the authorities have not revealed the amount of smuggled assets in official reports.
The years of intense chaos and corruption caused the previous UN Special Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salamé, to reveal the rampant financial corruption in Libya, and confirm its existence.