Quick Facts: Who helps dictators?

Thu Mar 3, 2011 2:1PM GMT

Highlights

Based on Wikileaks data, it was disclosed that various U.S. banks manage billions of dollars of Muammar Gaddafi's money. Among the key U.S. banks that serve as advisors and asset managers are Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan. 

A broad coalition of interests from oil companies, defense manufacturers and well-connected lobbying firms to neoconservative scholars have worked in recent years to advance a rapprochement with the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and take advantage of business opportunities in the country. Huffington Post

The EU granted export licenses for €834.5m worth of arms exports in the first five years after the arms embargo was lifted in October 2004. Italy, France, and the UK had the biggest amount of export. Guardian

According to Gaddafi's son Saif, Tony Blair, who is a "consultant," is paid some £600,000 a year by the regime. Independent

Gaddafi's millions in U.S. banks

"Which U.S. Banks Are Managing Billions For The $32 Billion Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund?" Based on Wikileaks data, it was disclosed that various U.S. banks manage billions for the country which has just seen $30 billion of its assets largely frozen. Among the key banks that serve as advisors and asset managers are Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan. Huffington Post

The secretive Libyan Investment Authority has reportedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs Asset Management funds, including a loan fund designed to invest in new hedge funds set up by the Kuwait Investment Authority. Goldman Sachs already has a relationship with Libya -- in 2008, Goldman was the first U.S. bank to get a contract with the country following the removal of sanctions, when it was hired by Libya's central bank to provide information on its behalf to credit rating agencies. Huffington Post

The Libyan government, including the Libyan Investment Authority, LIA, has also banked with Citigroup, according to several sources familiar with the matter. Free Republic

U.S. lobbies in bed with Gaddafi?

A broad coalition of interests from oil companies, defense manufacturers and well-connected lobbying firms to neoconservative scholars and Harvard Business School professors have worked in recent years to advance a rapprochement with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and take advantage of business opportunities in the country, even in the face of the longtime international pariah's brutal repression of his people and his legendary belligerence. Huffington Post

Libya's opposition leaders say that such efforts have harmed the interests of the North African country by helping enrich Gaddafi's family and close allies at the expense of the majority of Libyans, serving only to prolong Gaddafi's brutal reign. They also blame U.S. policy for prioritizing national security interests over issues of reform and human rights, the lack of which helped fuel the country's ongoing violent upheaval. Democratic Underground

Soon after U.S. President George W. Bush dropped sanctions against Libya in 2004, when Gaddafi announced that he intended to give up weapons of mass destruction and expressed his eagerness to join the war on terror, U.S. and British oil producers and business interests jumped at the chance to expand into the country, which has been ruled with an iron fist by the unstable leader for some 40 years. tvnewslies.org

Some of the biggest oil producers and servicers, including BP, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Chevron, Conoco and Marathon Oil joined with defense giants like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, multinationals like Dow Chemical and Fluor and the high-powered law firm White & Case to form the US-Libya Business Association in 2005. links.org

The members of its executive advisory council each pay $20,000 in annual dues to the group, which is managed by the National Foreign Trade Council, a coalition that seeks to facilitate international opportunities for U.S. companies. links.org

Most of the group's members have lobbied the U.S. government since 2004 to protect their investments in Libya or to iron out business problems with the regime. Bilateral trade with Libya totaled $2.7 billion in 2010, compared to practically nothing in 2003 when sanctions were still in force. links.org

Which EU countries export the most arms to Libya?

The EU granted export licenses for €834.5m worth of arms exports in the first five years after the arms embargo was lifted in October 2004. Italy, France, and the UK had the biggest amount of export. Guardian

The data shows that £215m worth of export licenses for controlled products were granted to companies selling stuff to Libya in the year to the end of September 2010. Of that amount, just under £8m were for equipment defined as military. Those products include riot control gear and tear gas. Guardian

A previously unpublished document shows that Mr Blair's Government agreed to supply military hardware and expertise to the despotic regime. Daily Mail

And it proves that there were plans for Britain to train Libyan military officers at 'its prestigious military colleges and institutions' such as the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Daily Mail

Tony Blair paid by 'family friend' Gaddafi

Tony Blair is an adviser to JP Morgan, which is understood to have business interests in Libya. Daily Mail

Tony Blair has been an adviser to Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator's son has claimed. Daily Mail

According to Gaddafi's son Saif, Blair, who is a "consultant," is paid some £600,000 a year by the regime. Independent

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said the former prime minister has secured a consultancy role with a state fund that manages the country's £65billion of oil wealth. Daily Mail

In an exclusive interview, Saif described Blair as a 'personal family friend' of the Libyan leader and said he had visited the country 'many, many times' since leaving Downing Street. Daily Mail

RS/SM/KA

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