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Clamp slapped on Gaddafi family billions
Italian police seized about $1.5 billion worth of assets last week from the family of dead former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in response to a request by international prosecutors in The Hague.
Colonel Gaddafi: friendly with the Italians
The authorities had warrants for ‘fixed and moveable assets’ in the form of company shareholdings, bank investments, property, and various other possessions, according to a statement released by officials in Rome.
Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera reported that Colonel Gaddafi and his family held stakes in several Italian entities, including banking organisation UniCredit, energy company Eni, football team Juventus, motor manufacturer Fiat, truck maker Fiat Industrial, and aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica.
Shareholdings
Colonel Gaddafi’s family reportedly held a 1.25 per cent stake worth $814m in UniCredit; a two per cent stake assessed at $53m in Finmeccanica; and a combined 0.33 per cent stake of an estimated $71m in value in Fiat and Fiat Industrial.
All the assets have been frozen, and, according to London newspaper The Independent, all companies involved have been notified.
Although the bulk of the wealth was accounted for in shareholdings, the police also seized several notable physical objects formerly held by the Gaddafis, including an apartment in Rome, 150 acres of land on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria, and two motorcycles, one of which was a Harley Davidson.
Many of the assets—acquired during the period of Gaddafi’s reign from the beginning of the 1970s until his downfall in late 2011—had already been frozen following the dictator’s deposing.
Friendship treaty
The seizure came at the request of prosecutors for International Criminal Court in The Hague, with Rome’s Appeals Court conducting a further investigation as part of its ongoing of Colonel Gaddafi’s son and his intelligence chief.
Al Jazeera writes that Colonel Gaddafi’s 2008 ‘friendship treaty’ with Italy – signed by then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi -- had enabled him to invest substantially in the nation’s companies and organisations.
Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera reported that Colonel Gaddafi and his family held stakes in several Italian entities, including banking organisation UniCredit, energy company Eni, football team Juventus, motor manufacturer Fiat, truck maker Fiat Industrial, and aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica.
Shareholdings
Colonel Gaddafi’s family reportedly held a 1.25 per cent stake worth $814m in UniCredit; a two per cent stake assessed at $53m in Finmeccanica; and a combined 0.33 per cent stake of an estimated $71m in value in Fiat and Fiat Industrial.
All the assets have been frozen, and, according to London newspaper The Independent, all companies involved have been notified.
Although the bulk of the wealth was accounted for in shareholdings, the police also seized several notable physical objects formerly held by the Gaddafis, including an apartment in Rome, 150 acres of land on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria, and two motorcycles, one of which was a Harley Davidson.
Many of the assets—acquired during the period of Gaddafi’s reign from the beginning of the 1970s until his downfall in late 2011—had already been frozen following the dictator’s deposing.
Friendship treaty
The seizure came at the request of prosecutors for International Criminal Court in The Hague, with Rome’s Appeals Court conducting a further investigation as part of its ongoing of Colonel Gaddafi’s son and his intelligence chief.
Al Jazeera writes that Colonel Gaddafi’s 2008 ‘friendship treaty’ with Italy – signed by then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi -- had enabled him to invest substantially in the nation’s companies and organisations.
