By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 11 September 2015:
Container fraud at Misrata Port is increasing, according to the head of customs, Khalid Al-Dilah. He has . . .[restrict]said that the number of known empty containers arriving at the port in the first nine days of September had risen to 139.
Importing empty containers is part of a money laundering scam to obtain hard currency at official rate, which is around half that available on the black market.
The usual system is that a company is set up abroad with a bank account, an invoice is raised for non-existent goods and a letter of credit organised through a bank in Libya, an empty container then arrives and the letter of credit is honoured and the money paid to the foreign company.
According to Al-Dilah, the containers have been seized and all the accompanying paperwork passed to the relevant investigative authorities.
In July, the Central Bank launched proceedings against 30 companies for laundering a total of three billion dinars. [/restrict]
