Jump to navigation

Vol 66 No 10

Published 16th May 2025


Libya

The Gadaffi billions – how Libya plans to reclaim the stolen wealth

Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi stashed billions in US banks, and now Libya’s power brokers are vying for control of this hidden fortune. The scramble for wealth has ignited a fierce political battle in Tripoli – one so ruthless that the official leading the recovery has been forced into hiding, fearing for his life. An Africa Confidential Special Report by John Hamilton our North Africa correspondent and managing director of Cross-Border Information.

After three months in illegal detention partly in one of Libya’s most brutal prisons Mohammed al Mensli, Director-General of the Libyan Asset Recovery and Management Office (LARMO) has been released – opening the way for his agency to pursue the recovery of up to US$50 billion in assets stolen by Colonel Moammar el Gadaffi’s regime overthrown in 2011. 


Read this Special Report for free here: The Gadaffi billions – how Libya plans to reclaim the stolen wealth


Libya's oil and gas resources: at the centre of the political fight



Related Articles

From Gadaffi to Qatar

The lake in Benghazi city centre, beside which its two main hotels stand, epitomises Moammar el Gadaffi’s neglect of the east. Officially known as the ‘23 July lake’,...


Dubaiba woos UAE and Haftar with about-turn on oil

Dubaiba tries to end embargo and undercut his eastern-based rival Bashagha by naming Bengdara as the new state oil chief

The latest arena of conflict between the country's two opposing governments is the crucial position of head of the National Oil Company (NOC). A complex political game between...


Storm over SA mercenaries in Libya

Ex-soldiers and police officers recruited in Cape Town helped some of Gadaffi’s family escape to Algeria but another team was less successful

Two teams of South African mercenaries are believed to have helped members of the Gadaffi family to escape from Libya and may have tried to save the late...


Air strikes risk escalation

Bombings in support of Haftar's army not only killed detained African would-be migrants but increased the prospects of ever-greater foreign involvement

When Libya's eastern military strongman, General Khalifa Haftar, launched his offensive to capture Tripoli on 4 April, he hoped for a blitzkrieg. What he got was a battle...