The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) has filed a lawsuit against Prince Laurent, the brother of King Philippe of Belgium, alleging "extortion, fraud, and unlawful influence." The announcement
was made by the organization's lawyers on Thursday, leading to the opening of a judicial inquiry in response to the complaint.
Prince Laurent has been involved in a legal dispute with the LIA for several years. Last week, the Brussels Court of Appeal rejected the LIA's appeal in the case, where the organization challenged an investigation conducted against it. This investigation included the seizure of approximately 15 billion euros from LIA accounts and the issuance of an arrest warrant for the head of the organization.
Lawyers representing the LIA claim that the palace exerted pressure on the courts to prioritize the case against Prince Laurent. "The criminal complaint we filed accuses Prince Laurent of fraud and extortion. We also allege that Prince Laurent used undue influence to attempt to extract a large sum of money from our client for a dispute that we believe was unrelated," stated lawyer Christophe Marchand.
Prince Laurent referred to the lawsuit as "pathetic" in an interview with news channel VTM Nieuws.
Since 2014, Prince Laurent has been seeking damages due to the Libyan state unilaterally terminating a collaboration with his NGO, the Global Sustainable Development Trust (GSDT), in 2010. Allegedly, they had joint plans for reforestation in the Libyan desert, and the non-profit organization was expected to receive approximately 50 million euros.
During the investigation, Belgian prosecutor Michel Claise discovered four bank accounts at Euroclear Bank in Brussels that once belonged to the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's clan. These accounts held around 15 billion euros, but they had been frozen by the United Nations. Claise ordered the seizure of the accounts when it was revealed that over 2 billion euros in interest had mysteriously vanished from the funds in 2012.
Despite the LIA's appeal, the Brussels prosecution chamber upheld the correctness of prosecutor Claise's investigation. The Brussels Court of Appeal also confirmed the international arrest warrant for Ali Mahmoud Hassan, the leader of the LIA, which was issued in 2022. Photo by Joost Pauwels, Wikimedia commons.