An administrative investigation has been launched in Tripoli against the Libyan ambassador to Belgium, Amel Jerary, following suspicious financial transactions linked to Libyan public funds.
According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Jerary has been suspended from her diplomatic position due to the corruption charges hanging over her. The ongoing investigation indicates that hundreds of thousands of euros of Libyan public funds were transferred to the diplomat’s son’s company, AA Agar Trade, based in Germany. However, Jerary and her son categorically deny all allegations, arguing that the funds were not misappropriated, but used under a legitimate commercial contract.
Some of these financial transfers have come under the scrutiny of investigators in Belgium. The Belgian press highlights in particular a transfer of 231 thousand euros from an embassy account to a company based in Liedekerke, Belgium, which had the aim of sending 220,500 euros to the German company AAAgar Trade for the purchase of equipment for MRI.
However, the funds never reached their destination, triggering suspicions of embezzlement against the embassy. The Belgian prosecutor’s office therefore froze the bank accounts of the company involved, but only managed to recover 118,000 euros. Other transfers, for a total of 319,000 euros, were made directly to the German company owned by the ambassador’s son for the purchase of medical equipment.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office confirmed the opening of a fraud case against the Liedekerke-based company, but declined to comment further. The head of the suspected company, identified by the initials M.B., was questioned by police last spring, but did not respond to requests for comment from Belgian media.
The lawyer for Ambassador Jerary and her son, Olivia Venet, issued a statement saying that they both “strongly reject any allegations of wrongdoing, including the suggestion of misappropriation of Libyan public funds.”