The government of Fathi Bashagha, appointed by the House of Representatives to replace the Government of National Unity (GNU), asked on Tuesday the Taxes Authority to transfer its financial revenues to it instead of the GNU.

The request was made in a letter sent by the government's Minister of Finance Osama Hammad to the Deputy Director of the Taxes Authority, Omar Al-Zarrouk, days after the GNU's Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah relieved his government of any financial obligations of Bashagha's government.

Hammad called on the Taxes Authority to transfer all collected revenues to his ministry's account in the Central Bank of Libya, Benghazi, and to instruct the tax administrations not to circulate any decisions issued by the GNU.

Tax revenues are the second source of financing for the state's general budget after oil revenues, on which the country depends almost entirely.

The Ministry of Finance in Tripoli has previously complained that tax and customs revenues in the eastern region had not been transferred to its accounts, calling on the Attorney General to investigate what it described as stealing of public funds.

In its report for the year 2021, the Audit Bureau also referred to the transfer of millions of dinars from sovereign revenues such as taxes and customs in the eastern region to the accounts of the so-called General Command of Khalifa Haftar’s forces, instead of transferring them to the accounts of the Ministry of Finance.