Italy seizes $1.5bln of assets controlled by Gaddafi family

PanARMENIAN.Net - Italy on Wednesday, March 28 seized more than 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) of assets controlled by the Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi’s family including stakes in top companies, land and a Harley Davidson, AFP reported.

The seizure by tax police officers followed a request by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is seeking the extradition from Libya of Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam on charges of crimes against humanity.

The police "seized today fixed and moveable assets, company stock and bank accounts connected to the family of ex-Libyan leader (Moammar) Gaddafi and to his entourage," a police statement said, listing the value of the assets.

Among the assets held by Libyan sovereign wealth funds was a 1.256-percent stake in the nation's largest bank UniCredit worth 611 million euros and a 0.58-percent stake in oil major ENI, the top foreign energy producer in Libya.

Under Gaddafi, Libya briefly held the biggest single stake in UniCredit.

There was also a 2.0-percent stake of Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica worth 40 million euros and a 0.33-percent stake in carmaker Fiat and truck maker Fiat Industrial worth an estimated 53 million euros.

Police said they further confiscated stock in serie A football club Juventus where one of Gaddafi’s sons - football-mad Saadi who is now hiding in Niger -- used to be on the board and an apartment in one of Rome's most exclusive areas.

The seizures included 150 hectares (371 acres) of forest on Pantelleria, a picturesque Italian island halfway between Sicily and the Tunisian coast where the Libyan strongman was rumoured to be planning to build a holiday village.

A commission at the ICC requested the assets be seized in the context of its investigation into Gaddafi’s son and his former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, also a brother-in-law to the fallen Libyan strongman.