The Libyan Public Prosecution ordered pre-trial detention of the Minister of Culture, Mabrouka Tougi, over accusations of corruption in administration and finance transactions.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that Minister Tougi and other employees at the Ministry were implicated in corruption cases in the project of maintenance of Book and Publication Center's building, meetings lounge at the Ministry, and the roundabout outside the Ministry building despite the fact that all those operations were done last year and documented in the expenditures of the Ministry.

The statement said the Office deputy assigned to the case saw the administrative and financial documents and then interrogated the Minister on December 29 regarding the accusations, adding that the Prosecution decided to lodge the Minister in prison pending investigation as documents had shown violations by Minister Tougi.