Presidential Council refers oil-smuggling and Arkenu files to Attorney General, calls for comprehensive, independent investigation

The Presidential Council has referred reports by the UN Panel of Experts to the Attorney General, calling for a comprehensive and independent investigation into alleged illicit exports of crude oil and petroleum products, fuel smuggling, and the diversion of fuel supplies from their designated channels.

The Council asked investigators to focus on Arkenu and the entities, individuals and transactions linked to the company, including the nature of its activities, contracts, exports and revenue flows, and whether they comply with Libyan law and serve the public interest.

It also called for examining the legal, contractual and financial basis of the contracts and reports referred for investigation, the volumes of oil involved, the revenues generated, their destinations and ultimate beneficiaries. 

The Council requested that information contained in UN reports be cross-checked against records held by the National Oil Corporation, the Central Bank of Libya, commercial banks, and financial and oversight bodies.

The requested investigation also covers shipping, transportation, storage and export operations, as well as fuel smuggling, with the aim of identifying individuals and entities that participated in, facilitated or benefited from such activities. It also calls for tracing related funds, accounts, transfers, assets, companies and commercial fronts inside and outside Libya.

The Council further requested an investigation into any abuse of public office, authority or influence that may have caused losses to public funds or enabled individuals or entities to obtain unlawful benefits.

It stressed that the referral does not constitute a presumption of criminal responsibility against any individual or entity, saying that determining responsibility and assessing evidence remain the responsibility of prosecutors and the judiciary, with the rights of the defense and the presumption of innocence guaranteed.

The Presidential Council said protecting Libya’s oil wealth and revenues is directly linked to state sovereignty, economic security and the Libyan people’s right to their resources, stressing the need to uncover the truth, protect public funds and recover any assets proven to have been unlawfully appropriated.