Libya's sovereign fund said on Thursday it would appeal to recover around 1.1 billion euros of assets, including stakes in top Italian companies, that were seized in Italy last month at the request of the International Criminal Court.
Italian financial police had seized the assets saying they belonged to members of the Gaddafi family, but the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) said that was not true.
"These assets belong to LIA, which in turn is controlled by the governemnt of Libya on behalf of the Libyan people," the chairman of the fund's management committee, Mohsen Derregia, said in a statement.
The seized assets include stakes in Italy's largest bank by assets UniCredit, oil and gas giant Eni, defence group Finmeccanica, carmaker Fiat, truckmaker Fiat Industrial and soccer club Juventus.
(Source: Reuters)
