Officials in Libya’s new governing authority are looking into whether any payments made by Société Générale SA as part of its relationship with the Libyan Investment Authority made it into the hands of people close to the ousted regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal reviewed documents showing that the French bank paid an unspecified amount to a Panama-registered company, Leinada Inc., to help structure and advise a $1 billion investment vehicle in 2008 for the LIA, Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. The company’s role isn’t clear, but some sovereign wealth fund officials criticized it before the uprising started in February, according to the Journal report.
Société Générale declined to comment on its relationship with Leinada or on its ties to the Libyan Investment Authority, but said it “works occasionally with financial intermediaries in countries where [it] does not have local teams in place.”
Documents reviewed by the Journal said the French bank had one of the most active relationships with the sovereign wealth fund, transacting several deals together amounting to nearly $2 billion. Others had smaller relationships with the LIA.
Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly examining a $50 million payment offered by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to the LIA for an outside advisory firm owned by the son of the head of Libya’s state-run oil company.
The payment was never made, and Goldman has denied any wrongdoing. (The company has disclosed in regulatory filings that it’s under investigation for violating U.S. foreign bribery laws.) For the Journal report, Goldman declined to comment, as did the SEC.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com
The Journal reviewed documents showing that the French bank paid an unspecified amount to a Panama-registered company, Leinada Inc., to help structure and advise a $1 billion investment vehicle in 2008 for the LIA, Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. The company’s role isn’t clear, but some sovereign wealth fund officials criticized it before the uprising started in February, according to the Journal report.
Société Générale declined to comment on its relationship with Leinada or on its ties to the Libyan Investment Authority, but said it “works occasionally with financial intermediaries in countries where [it] does not have local teams in place.”
Documents reviewed by the Journal said the French bank had one of the most active relationships with the sovereign wealth fund, transacting several deals together amounting to nearly $2 billion. Others had smaller relationships with the LIA.
Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly examining a $50 million payment offered by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to the LIA for an outside advisory firm owned by the son of the head of Libya’s state-run oil company.
The payment was never made, and Goldman has denied any wrongdoing. (The company has disclosed in regulatory filings that it’s under investigation for violating U.S. foreign bribery laws.) For the Journal report, Goldman declined to comment, as did the SEC.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com
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