GADDAFI’S SPANISH EMPIRE REMAINS INTACT

It is well over a month since the UN passed the resolution freezing all the assets of Gaddafi and the Libyan regime around the world. Spain initially backed the NATO action but last week made it clear it would not increase its military activity regarding the no-fly zone. Now it has also emerged that apart from putting administrators in to Aresbank the financial interests of Gaddafi and his family remain untouched in Spain.


It was on February 26 that the UN Security Council passed resolution 1970 under which all the assets of Gaddafi, his wife and four sons were to be frozen wherever in the world they may be. On March 17 there was a further resolution which extended the freeze to seven senior military officers and members of the secret service. The only exception was they could access money for their legal defence should they be brought to trial.

Amongst the entities named by the UN was the Libyan Foreign Bank which was founded in 1972 and is deemed to be under the control of Gaddafi, his family and was a potential major source of funds for the regime. This bank came under the Central Bank of Libya, also named by the UN. It is in the name of the Libyan Foreign Bank that in 1995 the four parcels of land known as La Resinera in Benahavís were registered. On these lands Gaddafi intends to construct 2,000 homes. The finca covers 70 million square metres between Benahavís, Júcar and Pujera and should have been embargoed if the UN’s orders had been followed.

Both the UN and EU have issued directives that Gaddafi’s assets should be blocked. However the lands of La Resinera have no charges or other matters registered against them. The Spanish Government insists that therefore only a court can embargo them hence the Fiscalía General del Estado would have to apply to the Audiencia Nacional to freeze the lands to comply with the UN resolution.

Clearly, for whatever reason, Spain has no wish to do this and a game of buck passing is in progress with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instating it is a matter for Hacienda, the Interior Ministry and the Bank of Spain. The Bank of Spain says it is not its responsibility to block or investigate Gaddafi’s funds and the Ministry of Justice points the finger back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The sole action taken was on March 16 when the Ministry of the Economy appointed three judicial administrators to Aresbank – the only Spanish bank controlled by the Libyan regime. Indeed the Libyan Foreign Bank has a 99.86 controlling interest and with the administrators Aresbank can function normally within the restrictions imposed by the EU. Apart from the land in Benahavís the Libyan banks through Spain also control other interests including a hotel in Panama.

Another familiar name to those on the roads of Andalucía, Cataluña and the Comunidad Valenciana is Tamoil. This network of 35 petrol stations was formed in 1991 and employs around 100 people in Spain. Its HQ is in Barcelona; it turns over around 200 million euros a year and is a subsidiary of Tamoil in Italy where it has 2,000 service stations and a refinery. It in turn is the commercial arm of Oilinvest based in Holland which was created in the 1980s with 450 million euros of capital. It appears the National Oil Corporation, Libya’s main petroleum company, controls 35 per cent of this group. The UN says these businesses are under the control of Gaddafi but no action has been taken against them.

However the financial fingers of Gaddafi spread right around the world. Libyan funds make up 26 per cent of the British Arab Commercial Bank which amongst its other interests is involved with the Financial Times and Juventus football club in Turin in Italy. Over 500 million US dollars are said to be tied up in US banks, Gaddafi controls Canadian Verenix Oil, has interests in the Belgian-German bank Fortis, in Italy has 2.6 per cent of Unicredit and 2 per cent of Finmeccanica – that country’s major arms manufacturer.

IN THE MEANTIME WE’LL BOMB LIBYA

There can be few people in the world who would embrace Gaddafi (well apart from the US, British, Spanish, Italian and other leading politicians plus royalty who did so in recent years) but I feel uneasy about the current military action in Libya.


I agree the people of Benghazi should be saved but then so too should the people of Zimbabwe, the Congo, Sudan, Israel, Gaza and many other places in the world too numerous to mention who have come under fire and been slaughtered whilst the world stood by.

Indeed many of these are not past events but current. Zimbabwe is about to have another violent election but by all accounts has still found time to send “troops” to aid Gaddafi in his fight.

We do not even know who we are saving in the rebel part of Libya. Hilary Clinton admits the US hasn’t got a clue. Yet she wants to arm them in the same manner as the US did in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq in years gone by. Then, years later, the US is amazed when the barrels are aimed at them by the very same people who they thought were on their side.

So why was the British Government so keen to intervene? To cover up for the botched attempts to evacuate its nationals? To divert attention from the real economic crisis facing the British people? Cameron may want to be a world leader – but please sort the mess out at home first.

US Republicans were angry because Obama didn’t rush in to Libya straight away. Now they are furious because he has taken action. The madness is worthy of a scenario involving Gaddafi.

Either the world intervenes to stop carnage or its stands by. You can’t step into oil States such as Libya and Iraq and stand by idly in Zimbabwe and countless other African and Arab nations.

There is no good carnage and bad carnage only carnage.

The West backed numerous despots because they ruled in the West’s national interest. Now the people of these countries want to be governed in their own interests not those of Washington, London, Paris or Rome.

The fact is the Western governments haven’t a clue whether they are coming or going – but in the meantime they’ll bomb Libya.

WE’RE SAVING YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE OIL

Eight years ago Madrid and wider Spain witnessed major demonstrations against the country’s involvement in the war in Iraq. Last Saturday the protestors returned to the streets of the nation’s capital this time to denounce Spain’s support of the military intervention in Libya.


Behind the banner “No a la Guerra” the marchers included the Izquierda Unida MP, Gaspar Llamazares, actors Alberto San Juan, Guillermo Toldeo and Juan Diego Botto plus the singer Germán Coppini. They were joined by other leading figures from the world of politics and culture.

The organisers say the purpose of the march was to bring thousands of people out on to the street with a twin message – no to foreign military intervention in Libya – and – no to the Muamar Gaddafi dictatorship.

Julio Rodríguez Bueno, president of Paz Ahora, one of the pacifist organisers of the demonstration considers that the foreign military intervention is the support for a campaign of lies. He compared it with the action against Saddam Hussein who was accused of having weapons of mass destruction and being a supporter of Al Qaeda.

From another viewpoint the IU’s social movement organizer, Fran Pérez, believes the conflict in Libya is “a war for petroleum”. He added the aim was to ferment civil war so that military intervention could be used in an imperialist project to dominate natural resources.

Indeed the people of Libya are lucky they have oil on their side. This saw the USA and western nations scuttling in to save them whilst those in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen are left to fend for themselves as their countries are as dry as the desert sands.

One pundit observed nations do not back causes they only intervene when their national interests and/or vital resource supplies are threatened.

Let the people of Benghazi give thanks nor for Sarkozy but liquid gold!

LIBYA HIT BY TSUNAMI

For nearly two months our daily news headlines have been led by the push for democracy in Arab nations.


More recently the news has been dominated by Libya with TV stations having reporters on the frontline, in Tripoli and in neighbouring nations.

None-the-less there has been space in every hour for other international and national news, sport, weather and comment.

Not any more. As soon as the earthquake and tsunami struck in Japan all other news ceased to exist.

I wake up every day to Sky News and seemingly the only news in the world is Japan. I wouldn’t mind if the content of the programmes was informative but invariably it is repeating what it told me the hour before and the day before.

I accept the events in Japan are terrible – the worst earthquake and tsunami ever.

Yet to behave as if all other news had ceased is simply ridiculous.

I suspect that come the next TV awards Sky News will receive a gong for its coverage in Japan.

In the meantime Libya’s struggle goes on as it does in other Arab nations but Sky News and other TV stations have enforced their own news blackout – censorship far more effective than anything Gadafi or the other despots could have imposed.

The tsunami has not only swept away thousands of people but also sensible news coverage.

Both are major tragedies.

A WEEK IS A LONG TIME...

It was Harold Wilson who gave us the phrase “A week is a long time in politics” – and in the case of what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa that is certainly true.

In January I visited the UK to write an article about Sky News and to attend the Fabian Society New Year Conference where Ed Miliband was to speak. Also pencilled in to my diary was a meeting with Sir Teddy Taylor, the former MP for Southend East.

As I caught a minor bug I went ahead with the Sky and Fabian dates but cancelled my meeting with Sir Teddy along with a couple others.

I wanted to chat with Sir Teddy about Gadafi because he had travelled to Libya on a couple of occasions to meet him. My interest was to learn what he made of the leader of that nation and to discuss his views on the Lockerbie bombing – especially as Sir Teddy is from Glasgow. It was mid-January and nobody had foreseen what would happen just weeks later. At that point Gadafi and Libya were on the rehabilitation list!

Reading Sir Teddy’s words in his autobiography Teddy Boy Blue now makes strange reading. I quote:

“If we endeavouring to solve the many problems facing the Middle East my belief is that we would make more progress if we treated the various nations with dignity and respect.

“Another good example of this is my experiences in Libya. I paid a visit there at a time when Mr. Gadaffi (sic throughout) appeared to have no friends in the world and when I was advised that it would be dangerous to travel there. However, as so often before, I found that the foreign office assessment of nations was not too accurate. I visited Mr Gadaffi on my first visit there and several times thereafter. During my first visit he agreed to cancel the provision he had made for the supply of weapons to the IRA and to many other terrorist groups in the world. These massive changes in policy have been maintained.

“The main feature for me on my visit to Libya was to see the actual country itself and the services provided to the community. Of course there is always the danger of being misled, but I can only say that as a person who has no financial or other interests in nations like Libya ...my assessment was that they had many positive features which sadly are not communicated to our people. My experience in the world is that those countries which the West approves of are often the most horrible nations for people to live in whilst those they disapprove of are often liberal and exciting nations which people seem happy to live in.”

It would be interesting to know how Sir Teddy feels about these impressions now.

As I say – a week is a long time in politics!

IT WASN’T ME GUV, HONEST

Before the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took the top job he had already established a reputation for always distancing himself from trouble.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer he and his minions had got the ploy of ensuring Gordon was not linked with any scandal or disaster down to a fine art.

Nothing has changed.

World economic crisis – nothing to do with Gordon – he was just in charge of Britain’s finances in the critical run-up to the fiscal melt down.

Murky dealings surrounding the repatriation of Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi to Libya – nothing to do with Gordon – it was those stupid Scots.

Problem is Mr Brown is head of Labour’s Scottish mafia and he likes to spend time before the cameras eating sheep’s whatnots with Gadhafi in his desert tent.

Now we have the fiasco of the botched rescue of British journalist Stephen Farrell from his Taliban captors in Afghanistan.

When the news first broke there was Gordon praising the action and happy to let everyone know it was him that gave the orders.

Then the whole episode turns sour so the valiant leader back tracks and explains that it was Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth who issued the order and not him. He was merely consulted.

It wasn’t me guv, honest – is the bleating from 10 Downing Street. Sadly honest is a phrase that sits uncomfortably on Mr Brown’s shoulders.

If life and the week weren’t bad enough Mr Brown also had to endure a telephone conversation with President Obama. The President is nobody’s fool so whilst the Prime Minister might think he can hoodwink the British people Barack Obama gave it to him straight telling the dour Scot of his “disappointment” over the bomber’s release. Oh I bet he did!

Well at least President Obama got his “disappointment” off his chest.

The British people have to wait to the next general election to tell “honest” Gordon of their “disappointment”. But tell him they will!

Since I penned the above it has been revealed in the Daily Telegraph that the British SAS are training Libya’s Special Forces. This has caused wide-spread resentment and anger amongst the elite troops as it was Libya that supplied the IRA with weapons that killed and injured SAS personnel in Northern Ireland. Of course Gordon Brown knows nothing of that.

To make matters worse The Sunday Times has suggested that Britain reached a deal three years ago with Libya to drop any investigation or prosecution in to the death of PC Yvonne Fletcher. The London “Bobby” was killed whilst on duty outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984 by a shot fired from inside the building. Despite a police siege of the embassy nobody has ever stood trial. The reports suggest that Justice Secretary Jack Straw was the key figure in agreeing this deal tied to trade with the Libyans – the same Mr Straw who has his fingerprints all over the al-Megrahi release – but of course the Prime Minister would never have been consulted, would he?

And the beat goes on, and on, and on...

So it does! On Friday the British Government confirmed that police officers - including a senior officer from Northern Ireland - had been sent to Libya to train its own police. That's a senior officer from a force that bore the brunt of the IRA attacks - with arms and explosives sent from Libya. Needless to say the surviving victims and the families of those who perished are appalled. So am I - but not surprised.