A report by the English website “Global Witness” revealed that the Central Bank of Libya owns a network of commercial correspondent banks spanning the five continents, and that the main intermediary for letters of credit is “ABC” Bank indirectly owned by the Central Bank of Libya and its, Governor Al-Siddiq Al-Kabeer.
And the report indicated – according to what was published on its official website – that senior officials in the Central Bank of Libya occupy positions of boards of directors in commercial banks owned by Libya abroad, which is a clear conflict of interest.
The report pointed out that most Libyan letters of credit enter the international financial system through the London-based “ABC” bank, pointing out that there are serious loopholes in the United Kingdom’s laws to combat money laundering and terrorist financing for “correspondent banks”, which explains that there is abuse of the system in a Continued manner, on a large scale and at great cost to Libyan public funds.
It is worth noting that the National Anti-Corruption Commission revealed, in June 2020, suspicions of corruption related to the file of credits granted to the Central Bank of Libya intended to provide goods during crises, especially the repercussions of the Coronavirus crisis.
