The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) has filed a criminal complaint for fraud, extortion and undue pressure against Belgian Prince Laurent, the fund's Brussels-based lawyers announced.
The issue between Prince Laurent and the LIA has been ongoing for some time: one of Prince Laurent's organisations, Global Sustainable Development Trust, had a contract with Libya for a reforestation project. In 2010, however, Libya unilaterally terminated that contract.
Since then, Prince Laurent has been trying to get compensation. He went to court and challenged Libya's breach of contract successfully, both at first instance and on appeal. His non-profit organisation is entitled to €37 million in damages, plus interest, amounting to almost €50 million. "Courts have already confirmed that compensation seven times, but Libya does not want to pay," said Prince Laurent's lawyer previously.
In 2011, the UN Security Council also ordered the blocking of all Libyan government assets (around €15 billion). The money, in accounts held by the LIA, is managed by LIA head Ali Mohammed Hassan.
Fraud, extortion and undue pressure
Last week, as part of a criminal investigation against the Libyan sovereign wealth fund, the Brussels Chamber of Indictments (KI) confirmed the seizure of as much as €15 billion that the Libyan sovereign wealth fund LIA has outstanding with Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear, as well as the international arrest warrant against LIA's CEO.
A ruling "favourable across the board for the prince," the LIA said. The fund's lawyers have now filed a criminal complaint against Prince Laurent, alleging fraud and extortion. According to them, there is evidence that Laurent applied "undue pressure."
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Now, the LIA claims that Prince Laurent exerted "unacceptable pressure" to recover the money. "The criminal complaint we filed accuses Prince Laurent of fraud and extortion," said LIA's lawyer Christophe Marchand. "Additionally, Prince Laurent used undue influence to try to pressure our client into paying him a large amount of money, for a dispute that we believe had nothing to do with our client."
"We are using all legal possibilities offered to us by the Belgian courts. We have no choice but to start criminal proceedings against Prince Laurent," he added.
In the meantime, Prince Laurent's lawyer told VTM News that the charges are "pathetic".
