A report by United Nations panel of experts submitted to the Security Council confirmed that the votes of at least three participants were purchased at the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.
UN experts found that during the Tunis talks, two of the participants offered “bribes ranging from $150,000 to $200,000 to at least three members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum if they committed themselves to vvoting for Dbeibah as prime minister,” according to a report to be submitted to the Security Council in March and seen by AFP on Sunday.
The report, which has not yet been published, was prepared by UN experts tasked with examining violations of the international arms embargo imposed on Libya.
The experts said in their report that one of the delegates “exploded in anger in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Tunis upon hearing that some of the participants may have received up to 500.000 dollars in return for their votes being given to Dabaiba, while he only got 200.000 dollars.”
One of the participants in the talks, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to AFP that he was a witness to what happened, expressing his anger at “unacceptable corruption at a time when Libya is going through a major crisis.”
The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum chose a temporary executive authority, a government headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, which has not yet obtained the confidence of the House of Representatives, and a three-member presidential council headed by Mohammed Menfi.
After several Libyan organizations demanded in November that an investigation be opened into corruption charges at the Dialogue Forum, the United Nations Acting Envoy to Libya at the time, Stephanie Williams, said that she had opened an investigation into the bribery allegations.
On Saturday, 5 women from the Political Dialogue Forum called on the UN mission to publish the experts’ report that was submitted to the Security Council, for public opinion, to “put an end to rumors that affect the entire political process.”
The members, who are: Salwa al-Dughaili, Saltana al-Mismari, Umm al-Ezz Ali al-Farsi, Amal Bugaighis and Fatima aal-ZahraaLanaqi, said in a statement that they were accused of “irresponsible receiving bribes and selling receivables”, demanding that all that was stated in the report of experts be published to put an end to the rumors about them, along with some other members.
