Reply #17: Rebels rob Libyan bank

[Demeter]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015138899_libya25.html



"Let me put this way: We robbed our own bank," said Ali Tarhouni, the U.S.-educated finance minister for the rebels, who ordered the March heist. Tarhouni, 60, who until earlier this year was a low-key economics lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle, said the bank heist serves as an illustration of the rebels' ingenuity, wherewithal and organizational skills. It's proof, he said, that they are ready to run the nation.

I THINK MY IRONY METER JUST BROKE, YET AGAIN. READY TO PLAY WITH THE BIG BOYS, ARE THEY? GOLDMAN, GEITHNER, BERNANKE AND ALL THE BANKSTERS?--DEMETER

By drilling a hole in the wall and hiring a locksmith to play with the combination, rebel leaders turned the Gadhafi government's own money into the lifeblood of their uprising...When Tarhouni saw the cash, he said his first thought was, "I am in trouble. That's not enough to run an economy in a war."
The money — more than $500 million in two safes — stayed in the bank, in a new rebel account, said Ahmed el-Sharif, a former consultant to the Central Bank of Libya, whom the rebels briefly appointed as the bank's governor in April. Efforts to supplement those funds with oil revenues have so far been unsuccessful. Tarhouni is hunting for the really big sums, as much as $165 billion, he estimates, that Gadhafi and his government placed in banks, investment firms, hedge funds and other institutions across the globe... Now they are asking foreign governments — including the United States — to use seized Libyan assets to fund a rebellion that in three months has evolved from political protest into a protracted military showdown...On Tuesday, the United States emphasized its support for the rebels by asking them to open an office in Washington, a gesture just short of formal recognition... But as the rebels struggle to fund their fight, the United States and other Western powers have done little to help them financially.

The White House has asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to draft a bill to take a portion of the frozen assets — between $150 million and $180 million — and put it to use in Libya as humanitarian aid. But the legislation faces stiff opposition from Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who has serious concerns about the "ramifications of taking the funds of what is still another sovereign nation," said spokesman Mark Helmke.

Lugar and other members of Congress are concerned about U.S. involvement in a Libyan civil war and the administration's lack of consultation with Congress. The rebels have asked for pledges of up to $3 billion in loans and aid, and have received substantial promises from Kuwait, Qatar and others. Officials in the United States and other countries have sidestepped questions about the legality of the rebels' decision to help themselves to state funds.