2007
On May 29, 2007, during a visit to Muammar Gaddafi by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, British Petroleum (BP) signed a $900 million exploration and production agreement with the Libyan National Oil Corporation. The agreement, which would likely involve an estimated US$2 billion in investment, covered three massive, largely unexplored tracts. The NOC signed the agreement with the LIA as BP's 15% partner in a production sharing agreement (PSA).[16] The LIA's share in BP's PSA provided a direct conduit via which oil wealth could be recycled. However, some Libya experts believed that the presence of two state-owned companies in BP's deal reflected divisions and tensions at the executive level in Libya, particularly over who controls the oil wealth.
During August 2007, LIA agreed to establish a Libyan-Qatari joint investment fund for $2 billion equally with the Qatar Investment Corporation (QIC). Also, the General People's Congress secretary signed two agreements in Doha in July 2007 to establish a Libyan-Qatari Bank between QIC and the Central Bank of Libya. An agreement was also signed to establish a joint company for real estate development between Al-Diar real estate investment company (Qatar) and the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company.[17]
2008
In July, 2008, the LIA bought a share in the Dutch-Belgian bank of Fortis, which needed additional funds to maintain solvency. The LIA did not confirm the investment, since they were not required by Dutch or Belgian law to do so. However, later that week, the Dutch Minister of Finance Wouter Bos admitted that the situation 'had his attention, as well as that of the Dutch Central Bank', considering previous Libyan involvement in international terrorism.[18] Between January and June 2008, the LIA paid $1.3 billion for options on a basket of currencies and options on six stocks (Citigroup Inc., UniCredit SpA, Banco Santander, Allianz, Électricité de France and Eni SpA) via Goldman Sachs. By February 2010, the value of these investments was 0.025 billion - a 98% loss.
2010
As of June 2010, Lafico held 7.5% of the total shares of Italian football club Juventus.[19]
2011
In June 2010 and September 2012 Internal Management Reports were leaked to the Press by sacked staff, which showed the Libyan Investment Authority had suffered much smaller losses than expected compared to the huge losses suffered by many sovereign wealth funds during the 2008 financial crisis.[20]
The Financial Times interviewed Gaddafi era appointees and directors of LIA, bankers who had never done business with the LIA, and former Gaddafi Libyan officials and reported more rumour and innuendo with no hard evidence generally making vague claims of mismanagement. Farhat Bengdara, a Gaddafi appointee, the former governor of the Central Bank of Libya and member of LIA's board of trustees claimed that there was a "clear lack of governance at the LIA" surprising since he been on its governance board of trustees until the revolution came. On Bengdara's recommendation Sami Rais (another Gaddafi era appointment)had been made chief executive of LIA in October 2009. Rais and Bengdara were subsequently sacked by the new governments of Libya. The accountancy firm KPMG had provided reports and audit in 2010 which showed the LIA asset position steadily improving and made no suggestions of corruption or wrongdoing by any LIA staff member.
In 2011, Ali Tarhouni, minister of financial and oil affairs for the rebel National Transitional Council, appointed Mahmoud Badi, formerly a civil servant under Gaddafi, to investigate the Libyan Investment Authority. In August 2011, Badi found "misappropriation, misuse and misconduct of funds" with $2.9 billion missing from the LIA.[21]
2012
As of December 2012, the Libyan Investment Authority following the Deloitte validation and evaluation report and the commitment to meeting the governance of mandate outlined in Law 13, the LIA appeared to be operating normally [22] and no responsible investigation has demonstrated any real substantiated evidence of corruption or malfeasance.
2014
On 29 September 2014 the Board of Trustees removed Mr Ben Yezza from his role (Resolution 7 of 29 September 2014) and appointed Mr Bouhadi as chairman (Resolution 8).[23][24]
In 2014, Breish stepped down, replaced in the interim by Abdulrahman Ben Yezza, a former Libyan Minister for Oil and Gas, pending an inquiry under Libya's Political and Administrative Isolation Law (through decision No.659 of 2014), until a permanent chairman was put in place.[25][26] In early 2014, Breish initiated legal proceedings on behalf of the LIA against Goldman Sachs and Société Générale S.A to recover billions of dollars lost through improper transactions done in their dealing with the LIA during the Gaddafi Regime.[27]
2015
Approximately 85% of the LIA's assets remain frozen to safeguard them against potential misappropriation and corruption. These sanctions were originally requested by the National Transitional Council shortly after the fall of the Gaddafi regime to protect such assets from theft.
In 2015 Abdulmagid Breish called for the UN to maintain its freeze over the majority of the LIA's assets under UN Security Council Resolution 1970 of 26 February 2011.[32]
Breish insisted that Libyan assets must be frozen until a unity government emerges and asserts control. Bouhadi, by contrast, has repeatedly sought to unfreeze the assets, stating that said he would appeal to the UN, the US and the EU.[33][34] In December 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2259 welcoming the signing of Libyan Political Agreement and the emergence of a Tripoli-based Presidency Council (PC) and Government of National Accord (GNA).[35]
2016
In March 2016, AbdulMagid Breish, former BoD Chairman, disputed Hassan Bouhadi’s authority as chairman of the Board of Directors of the LIA.[40][41][42] On 30 March 2016, the Presidency Council and GNA arrived in Tripoli.[43] By mid-April British, French and Spanish ambassadors had returned to Tripoli to reopen their embassies, and foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany had visited Tripoli to express their support for the PC and GNA.[44][45][46] Italian and Spanish ambassadors then followed suit shortly after.
