Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/904009
maltatoday SUNDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2017 News 3 MATTHEW VELLA THE crime syndicate that smug- gled some €30 million in fuel oil from Libya using Maltese ships, was assisted by the signature of one of Libya's most powerful political players. A letter dated November 2015, seen by MaltaToday in its origi- nal Arabic version and a certified English translation, shows that Ali Gatrani – a member of the Libyan Presidency Council – put his name to a letter certifying smuggling king Fahmi Slim Bin Khalifa's operation Tiuboda Oil and Gas Services, as a bona fide company. Two experts who spoke to MaltaToday said they were in no doubt that Gatrani was at the time aware of Bin Khalifa's smuggling operations from the port of Zwara. MaltaToday was unable to secure a comment from Gatrani on the implications of the letter. Gatrani is a member of the Libyan House of Representatives, which was ousted from power in Tripoli by Islamist-led Libya Dawn forces, and forced to flee to Tobruk. Gatrani, signing his letter as chairman of the House of Repre- sentatives' economy, trade and in- vestment committee, effectively al- lowed Ben Khalifa's company to be recognised as a legitimate business operation. "The Economy, Trade and In- vestment Committee at the House of Representatives… within the framework of motivating and en- couraging nationals to take part and raise the performance stand- ard and to accelerate the national economy of the country, until it becomes on the same level of de- veloped countries, has no objection for such institutions to carry out their business," Gatrani wrote of Tiuboda Oil and Gas Services on 23 November, 2015. The letter's timing is all the more crucial, having been written right after the revealing exposé on 16 October 2015 by Ann Marlowe in the Asia Times, where she revealed how Fahmi Slim Ben Khalifa was a powerful human and fuel trafficker working in partnership with Mal- tese businessmen. It was through such a letter, carry- ing the stamp of Libya's recognised government at the time, that Ben Khalifa and his Maltese accomplic- es could convince authori- ties that the fuel they were trading was purchased legally. Additionally, although knowing that Fahmi Slim was a smuggling kingpin, Gatrani would later com- plain that the Maltese government was ignoring complaints on fuel smug- gling. After the UN report was issued in March 2016, Gatrani was reported in the Libyan press to have sent a letter on 17 July to the Maltese ambas- sador on illegal fuel ex- ports to Malta through companies licensed for "oil services" – a veiled reference to Tiuboda's activities. But seven days later, the Maltese foreign ministry told the press that the ambassador had never received any such communication. Two Maltese men, former Malta inter- national footballer Darren Debono and fuel trader Gordon Debono were recently arrested in Lampedusa and Catania re- spectively on 20 October. Darren Debono was a business partner of Ben Khalifa, the latter arrested in August by Tripoli militia Rada after having run his smuggling operation freely since 2012. But a three-year police investiga- tion in Italy that came to a head last month, revealed how Tiuboda smuggled fuel out of Libya, using Maltese ships and the connivance of Italian merchants using false cer- tificates to place the fuel on Euro- pean markets. The crime syndicate used false certificates to obtain a stamp of ap- proval from the Maltese Chamber of Commerce so that their fuel ex- ports could be offloaded at Italian ports. When in 2016 a UN panel of experts confirmed the smuggling allegations reported in the Asia Times and Wall Street Journal, the syndicate procured the signature of Maltese notary Anton Borg on the certificates of origin, to show it hailed from the Azzawija Oil Refining Company, a subsidiary of the Libyan national oil com- pany. The Azzawija letterhead and National Oil Corporation sym- bol were used to falsely claim the sale of fuel made to Tiuboda. According to Italian investigators, the certifi- cate had actually been procured by a man identified as 'Fitouri', be- lieved to be an NOC official, for a bribe of 120,000 Libyan dinars (€74,000) paid into a Dubai bank account. With these certificates in hand, Debono was successful in obtain- ing two apostilles from the Maltese ministry of foreign affairs' legalisa- tion officer, when the Chamber of Commerce stopped certifying his exports. FUEL SMUGGLING Smuggling kingpin got Libyan politician's 'stamp of approval' Libyan-Maltese crime syndicate bolstered by Tripoli's letter saying smuggling kingpin Fahmi Slim's fuel operation was bona fide Debono were recently arrested certificates to obtain a stamp of ap- bol were D arre n D e b o n o Fahmi Slim Bin Khalifa