By Sami Zaptia.
London, 8 October 2020:
The eastern Libyan headquartered privately-owned Bank of Commerce and Development (BCD) has denied the accusation made by the Tripoli Central Bank of Libya (CBL) that it provided a loan to the Khalifa Hafter-led Libyan National Army (LNA).
It said it was ready to be audited by any party to show that what was stated by the ‘‘dismissed Governor’’ is not true and has no basis in truth.
The accusation against the BCD came during a questioning session of Saddek El-Kaber, Governor of the Tripoli CBL, before the internationally unrecognized breakaway House of Representatives in Tripoli on 5-6 October. El-Kaber had said the BCD had come under pressure to make the loan.
In a statement published yesterday refuting the accusation, the BCD said that they had not granted the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LNA) any money, noting that “the words of the governor of the Central Bank of Libya, are incorrect.”
The BCD said that El-Kaber has targeted it since 2014, after it ended its partnership with Qatar National Bank, which BCD said it considered as bias towards the Qatari Bank.
It added that since ending the partnership with the Qatari bank, El-Kaber has carried out several arbitrary measures against it, which began with the suspension of credits and foreign transfers to the suspension of the bank’s clearing instruments in excess of ten thousand dinars.
The BCD stated that it had tried to cooperate with the CBL and resolve disputes, but that El-Kaber continued to abuse his power, as he then went on to stop its foreign currencies transfers, credits, swift transfers and cards, and only allowed the grant of household heads.
It said it denounces the fallacies made by ‘‘the dismissed governor’’ and reserves its right to take all legal measures in order to preserve its rights.
