By Sami Zaptia.
London, 11 December 2020:
A spat has broken out between, Saddek El-Kaber, the Governor of the Tripoli Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and Fathi Bashagha, the Interior Minister of the internationally recognized Libyan government in Tripoli.
The spat was ignited by Bashagha imposing a travel ban on El-Kaber. This came to light when a letter from El-Kaber to the Attorney General’s Office was leaked yesterday in which El-Kaber complains that he was prevented from travelling yesterday.
In response, the Interior Ministry yesterday published a strongly worded statement in which it stated, without mentioning El-Kaber by name, that no one was above the law.
Other letters have since been leaked by El-Kaber to the Tripoli House of Representatives (HoR) and a letter from the Tripoli Justice Ministry to the Tripoli Libyan government headed by Faiez Serraj.
In his letter, El-Kaber refutes the lawfulness of Bashagha’s travel ban, claiming he was on his way to conduct official business abroad in his role as CBL Governor.
Bashagha’s published letter takes the view that his Ministry does indeed have the authority to impose a travel ban on state officials. This travel ban harks back to the exact ban that existed under the Qaddafi regime where state officials and military personnel had to seek prior permission before travelling abroad.
Another leaked letter from the Justice Ministry to the Serraj government refutes the legality of the travel ban.
Meanwhile, a leaked letter from the Tripoli HoR to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) says that, in its view, the travel ban is unlawful as Article 14 of the 2011 Transitional Constitutional Declaration (TCD) guarantees Libyans the right of travel, implying that the TCD now supersedes any Qaddafi-era procedure.
The HoR reminded the AGO that the CBL comes under the authority of the HoR and that Libyan law does not allow for travel bans unless they are ordered by the AGO or the courts.
In his letter of complaint to the AGO, El-Kaber said that the travel ban ‘‘represents an obstruction to the bank’s extraordinary efforts to unify the exchange rate of the Libyan dinar, and to convene the board of directors of the Central Bank of Libya’’.
Analysis
The citing by El-Kaber of his current efforts to reunify the CBL Board of Directors and to unify the Libyan Dinar’s exchange rate has led to all sorts of speculation as to why Bashagha chose to prevent El-Kaber from travelling and at this particular time.
It is not clear if El-Kaber was playing a public relations or political game by blaming Bashagha for any possible delays in holding a reunified Board meeting and unifying the exchange rate.
Commentators do not see the link between a CBL Board meeting and unifying the exchange rate with the need for El-Kaber to travel. The Board meeting is supposed to take place on Libyan territory – although it is possible a Libya territory abroad could be used as a location – such as an embassy.
Commentators speculate that El-Kaber was enlisting public pressure on Bashagha in order to lift his travel ban. He may have also been sending a message to the international community to help him out.
El-Kaber corruption charges?
The incident has also led to speculation that Bashagha is about to put forward some kind of charges or accusations against El-Kaber and wants to prevent the Governor from escaping abroad to his Malta home.
It will be recalled that the former Deputy Health Minister escaped charges and arrest by fleeing the country. This could be one motive for the travel ban.
El-Kaber’s impending arrest?
This has also led to speculation that Bashagha may also be planning to go as far as arresting El-Kaber to question him or present strong enough evidence to the AGO that the AGO would have to call El-Kaber in for questioning or even place him under arrest.
El-Kaber freezing Interior Ministry’s accounts
There is also speculation that Bashagha’s action comes in response to El-Kaber freezing all his ministry’s bank accounts. The pretext of this is the National Oil Corporation freezing oil revenues and not transferring them to the CBL accounts.
The militia attack on the NOC?
There is also speculation that the travel ban and freezing of the Interior Ministry’s bank accounts is linked to an investigation by the Interior Ministry into the attempt by militias to storm the headquarters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) on 13 November. Some speculations have linked it to El-Kaber.
Bad timing for Libya’s political reconciliation process?
Either way, the incident could not have come at a worse time for Libya as UNSMIL and international efforts are making good progress to reunify the split Libyan political west and east streams through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) and the informal House of Representatives and High State Council Tangiers meetings, and the informal 127 HoR gathering in Ghadames.
Bashagha’s personal agenda?
There is also speculation that this is Bashagha, the strongman and former militia leader from Misrata, looking after his own personal agenda of projecting a strongman profile for himself.
This is either in order to be appointed as the new head of the newly reformed three-person Presidency Council, or as the new interim prime minister, or as part of his election campaign for the planned December 2021 elections.
