The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the country's sovereign-wealth fund, is reportedly helping the US's Securities and Exchange Commission’s bribery probe into Goldman Sachs.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the fund is cooperating with the SEC on an investigation into whether Goldman violated American anti-corruption laws, after the fund lost 98 percent, or $1 billion, on investments acquired through Goldman before the financial crisis.
SEC officials have reportedly scrutinized a $50 million fee Goldman initially agreed to pay the fund to help recover its losses; US companies are banned from offering or paying bribes to foreign officials or employees of state-owned companies.
The ill-timed Libyan investments reportedly included options on a basket of currencies and six stocks: Citigroup, Italian bank UniCredit, Spanish bank Banco Santander, Germany’s Allianz, French electric company Electriciete de France (EDF) and Italian energy company Eni.
(Source: Bloomberg)
