By Helen Warrell in London
Published: February 23 2011 20:28 | Last updated: February 23 2011 20:28
The family of Muammer Gaddafi is known to benefit from access to Libya’s lucrative business deals. But US diplomats in Tripoli believed that the Gaddafis’ profiteering might be sparking more serious political consequences when they warned their Washington colleagues that Libya’s senior oil official was considering his resignation after one of Col Gaddafi’s sons asked him for $1.2bn in cash or oil shipments.
According to a cable sent in July 2008, obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and seen by the Financial Times, Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, was approached in June 2008 by Mutassim Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s fourth son and national security adviser, with a request for funds.
The source told the embassy that Mr Ghanem was due to hand in his resignation to Col Gaddafi a week after the cable was sent. In fact, Mr Ghanem resigned as NOC chairman in September 2009 but was reinstated six weeks later, and remains in the post. At the time, his resignation was interpreted as a sign of his frustration with the increasing influence of hardliners who were seeking stricter conditions for foreign companies operating in Libya.
It is difficult to gauge the accuracy of the reports in the 2008 cable. Mr Ghanem could not be reached for comment.
According to a cable sent in July 2008, obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and seen by the Financial Times, Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, was approached in June 2008 by Mutassim Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s fourth son and national security adviser, with a request for funds.
The diplomats’ source, a “close friend” of Mr Ghanem who had known him for more than 40 years, said that Mutassim intended to use some of the requested $1.2bn to set up a military unit and pay for unspecified “security upgrades” he wanted to make in his capacity as national security adviser.
The source told the embassy that Mr Ghanem was due to hand in his resignation to Col Gaddafi a week after the cable was sent. In fact, Mr Ghanem resigned as NOC chairman in September 2009 but was reinstated six weeks later, and remains in the post. At the time, his resignation was interpreted as a sign of his frustration with the increasing influence of hardliners who were seeking stricter conditions for foreign companies operating in Libya.
It is difficult to gauge the accuracy of the reports in the 2008 cable. Mr Ghanem could not be reached for comment.
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