By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 17 June 2014:
An investigation into the controversial recording in which the former leader of Ajdabiya Local Council . . .[restrict]and a member of the former National Transitional Council allegedly sought financial help from Qatar to fight retired General Khalifa Hafter and his Operation Dignity has been ordered by the Attorney General, Abdulqader Radwan.
The recording, posted on YouTube, has been dismissed as a fake by the two men concerned, Salem Subhi and Hussein Jazwi, as well as by Al-Jazeera TV. Its former bureau chief in Libya, Iraqi Abdel-Azeem Mohamed, was said to be asked by them in the supposed recording to facilitate the funding from Qatar.
Haftar’s spokesman, Mohamed Hejazi, however, has claimed the recording is genuine.
Speaking on TV on Saturday evening, Radwan’s office manager, Khaled Turjman, said that nothing would be said until the investigation was complete.
“The Attorney General’s office has the experience and equipment to investigate such issues,” he insisted, stressing that those whose names were mentioned in the audio recording had been summoned already.
Abdel Azeem Mohamed, however, is reported not to be in the country.
As to holding an investigation of General National Congress leader Nuri Abu Sahmain, Turjman said that the Attorney General did not have judicial arrest powers. He explained that there were special arrest authorities with the task of taking into custody those summoned by the office for an investigation. He stressed, however, that while the Attorney General had put in a request for immunity to be lifted from Abu Sahmain, Congress had not yet responded.
Radwan was dismissed as Attorney General by Congress on 10 June and replaced by Sadiq Al-Sour in a session that has widely been dismissed as unconstitutional because it was apparently inquorate. Sour rejected the appointment two days later because of concerns about the legitimacy of the decision and Radwan refused to accept it on the same grounds. He remains in office and is accepted as such by the Libyan government and his staff – effectively demonstrating to all the powerlessness of the rump of the Congress.
He has meanwhile called on both the Supreme Court and the Judicial High Council to take a stand against interference by Congress in the judiciary.
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