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TEHRAN, December 18 - Investigators have conducted a search of Belgium’s Ministry of Finance in connection to their probe of missing money that had belonged to Muammar Gaddafi, the deceased former leader of Libya.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Belgian investigators on Monday interrogated a former Finance Ministry official in connection to their probe of an alleged withdrawal of Gaddafi's money from his suspended accounts in Belgian banks, the Brussels prosecutor's office reports.
In October, it was revealed that several billion euros had mysteriously disappeared from the late Libyan leader's bank accounts. At that time, some media speculated that the money could have been used to finance various militant groups in Libya.
Following Gaddafi's death in 2011, the UN Security Council ordered a suspension of his assets. In Belgium, those were accounts in four different banks. However, later reports indicated that the interest on those accounts was never suspended, and it is that interest that is now missing.
"As a part of the investigation of money laundering cases, the investigator interrogated the former Treasury of Federal Public Service's finance director general in connection to the payment of approximately 2 billion euros as interest from Libyan assets — suspended by the decision of the UN — to an undetermined legal entity, which might have been the ‘Libyan Investment Fund," says the statement from the Belgian prosecutor's office, reports Russian media.
The office also said it conducted a search inside the ministry.
"A search has been conducted in the Treasury service in order to clarify the role of the administration in making a decision to pay out interest from Libyan assets, and in order to determine the money's recipient," the statement says.
Source: Sputnik News
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