The Libyan Assets Recovery and Management Office (LARMO) called for easing sanctions on Libyan assets to meet the basic needs of Libyans and improve the national economy, urging for support for the strategy of phase-based recovery of looted Libyan assets.
This call came during a speech by the Director of the LARMO, Mohammed Al-Mansali, at the International Conference of the International Bar Association, which was held in Paris last Friday, when Al-Mansali spoke about his understanding of the necessity of imposing sanctions and freezing assets in certain cases, but he also highlighted the risks and harm that such measures posed to the population, according to a statement by LARMO.
Al-Mansali said that Libya's frozen assets overseas suffered annual losses exceeding one billion dollars, pointing out that this greatly affected Libya's ability to meet basic humanitarian and social needs, and made it difficult to give jobs to essential employees such as doctors, nurses, and teachers, as the freezing of assets hindered the country's ability to build or maintain infrastructure, support pensions, and reduce youth unemployment.
LARMO director recalled that the recent tragedy in Derna and other ongoing humanitarian challenges underscored the importance of tackling this freezing of assets' file to meet the urgent needs in Libya. He referred to the injustice facing Libyans who were unable to benefit from the assets they legally owned despite the ongoing difficulties they had been facing.
"In the past years, we have lost billions of dollars and this money could have significantly improved the lives of every Libyan, especially for those living in the most difficult circumstances.” Al-Mansali said, adding that the frozen assets should be collected in a safe place so that they could be invested in a wise manner to benefit the Libyan people, under firm supervision from internal and external parties, pointing out that this policy was welcomed at all local and international levels.
