By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 15 October 2015:
Libya’s Tripoli-based Audit Bureau has issued a ruling freezing the bank accounts of 160 companies . . .[restrict]and individuals variously accused of smuggling foreign currency, falsifying official documents and evading customs duties. Eight customs clearance offices were also banned from operating.
The listed individuals and companies were this week prohibited from opening any new bank accounts without the prior approval of the Audit Bureau.
Amongst the individuals listed were 5 members of the Husni Bey family.
When contacted, Husni Bey told Libya Herald that he was ‘’surprised that companies with 2,500 employees have their work and assets frozen without an investigation by the Audit Bureau. We assure that neither the company nor its management have ever been charged or investigated’’, he stressed.
‘’The allegations are absolutely unfounded and neither management nor companies have ever breached any laws. This is not the way to build private enterprise and confidence. Unfortunately by next month we will have 2,500 more jobless Libyans’’, Husni Bey concluded.
This move by the Audit Bureau comes as part of a wider effort by it and by the Central Bank of Libya to counter corruption and the smuggling of Libya’s foreign currency through the opening of false Letters of Credit or the transfer of money abroad without importing goods in return. [/restrict]
