Libya’s Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun has accused the National Oil Corporation (NOC) of deliberate disruption of the wireless communications in his ministry, according to a leaked document.
Aoun made the accusation against Sanalla in a letter addressed to the incumbent Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, which was then leaked to the press.
In the letter, Aoun claimed that employees at his ministry have been facing issue with the poor quality of wireless communications in his ministry. This led the minister to hire the service of a team from Al-Madar, a Libyan telecommunications company, to investigate the root cause of the problem. Al-Madar team discovered that radio jamming coming from an NOC office in the ministry was the source of disruption, Aoun alleged in the letter.
He called out NOC chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, and accused him of being responsible for the “immoral and illegal” incident.
“These actions, which amount to crimes of spying, wiretapping and obstruction, must not go unpunished,” the oil minister told the premier in his latter.
Both Aoun and Sanalla have had a long bilateral dispute to gain influence over the industry and policy. In October last year, Aoun suspended Sanalla over alleged administrative offences; a decision that was later cancelled following Dbeibeh’s mediation.
