WikiLeaks and What The Truth is ..(20)_Libya has billions in US banks: WikiLeaks

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Libya has billions in US banks: WikiLeaks
Posted 1 hour 43 minutes ago

Libya holds billions of dollars in US bank accounts, according to a confidential US diplomatic cable, which casts light on the global span of the country's oil wealth.

According to a 2010 message from the US embassy in Tripoli, obtained by WikiLeaks, Libya's sovereign wealth fund holds $US32 billion in cash and "several American banks are each managing $US300-500 million".

The revelations were reportedly made by the fund's boss, Mohamed Layas, who said most of the $US32 billion was "in bank deposits that will give us good long-term returns".

As international anger grows over Moamar Gaddafi's brutal crackdown on protesters, some of those assets abroad could be transformed into targets for international sanctions, if tied to the regime.

While US officials have not specified what steps could be taken against Libya, Washington has recently frozen assets held by Iranian, Zimbabwean and Belorussian officials over rights abuses.

"We have a wide range of tools," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, noting financial sanctions were one option.

"There are actions that are being teed up within our government."

In a sign of how plugged into the US financial system Libya has become, Mr Layas said the country had lost money during the collapse of Lehman Brothers and were approached by now convicted swindlers Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford for investment.

Mr Layas added that the government-controlled fund's "primary investments are in London, in banking and residential and commercial real estate".

- AFP

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