By Sami Redwan, Economics and Business Commentator, Tripoli.
Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Libya Business News.
LIA on track with multi-million dollar litigations to recover wealth of the Libyan people
Things are uncertain at the moment, even by Libya’s standards. Key terminals in Libya’s eastern and western oil facilities have been held hostage for years, with oil production at a minimum. Oil exports, on which the economy sorely relies, are at a virtual standstill. The country’s liquidity crisis is ongoing. Roads, hospitals and other key infrastructure are in desperate need of upgrading. Kidnappings are rife.
In most countries, any one of these problems would be cause for major concern. In Libya, we have to contend with all of them at the same time.
Amidst these grey clouds, however, some rays of sunshine are beginning to emerge on the horizon. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has recently retaken the eastern oil facilities and terminals, and export of crude oil is resuming. And the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is making great strides in its efforts to recover funds that our country badly needs.
In recent days the LIA announced it has recouped over $50 million in cash from Cornhill Capital, following a three-year battle with the investment fund.
The LIA originally invested $100 million in Cornhill. Poor management of these funds led to their value being cut nearly in half, to $54 million. When the LIA asked for what remained of its investment to be returned in 2013 Cornhill refused, before finally being forced to comply with judicial and administrative rulings to hand over the funds in August this year, after three years of resistance.
The LIA has also announced the recovery of a further $73 million from the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, having pursued recovery of the money since 2008.
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