The chairman of Libya’s LIA sovereign wealth fund, Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohamed, was detained on Wednesday for an investigation into alleged “corruption and exploitation of (his) position,” an official in the attorney general’s office said.
The LIA said in a statement it was confident he would be proven innocent.
Mohamed was appointed by the UN-backed government in Tripoli. A rival government operates in eastern Libya, says a Reuters report.
The official in the attorney general’s office said Mohamed was being interrogated, declining further comment. Mohamed could not be reached for comment.
The LIA holds about $66 billion-worth of mostly frozen assets under United Nations sanctions imposed in 2011 when veteran ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.