The Libyan Investment Authority has welcomed a British court ruling Monday imprisoning two former managers of FM Capital in Britain on charges of fraud and appropriation of $14 million of LIA’s assets.
LIA's media advisor, Louay Al-Qareyo, said in a press statement that the Southwark Crown Court in London sentenced the former manager of the company and other parties to 11 years in prison for defrauding the assets of the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio, in addition to sentencing one of the parties to a suspended 15-month prison sentence, and paying a compensation of $ 25 million to LIA.
Al-Qareyo added that the ruling comes as a culmination of the civil ruling issued on July 11, 2018 by England’s Commercial Court in favour of the Libya Africa Portfolio, which is affiliated with the Libyan Investment Authority and which owns the Libyan Capital Company in Britain.
The civil judgment stated at the time that “the former director was responsible for breach of financial duties, bribery and unfair mediation in relation to all transactions under consideration in the lawsuits, as the court decided that the amount of compensation ranged between 20 and 25 million dollars.”
The background of this case goes back to 2014, after the Libyan Investment Authority issued instructions to file a lawsuit against the defendants, and the Libyan company “FM Capital” and the Libya Africa Portfolio filed a lawsuit against the former manager of the company and several other parties before England’s Commercial Court due to financial losses and damages resulting from the violation of legal duties.
