Winter is Coming…
…And we wanted the Libyan people to be prepared for the onslaught of new investigations into the Libyan Assets Recovery Issue. This was from the conclusion of our last article on the Libyan Assets recovery issue on 16 February 2015:
Post Script: We contacted a Canadian philosopher who is a world-renowned legal, political and historical scholar who has been a human right advocate for more than 40 years. We asked him if would be interested in providing his insight on the developing scandal of the Libyan Assets Recovery. He replied, “I would be honored.” He has graciously agreed to offer his time and insight into all aspects of this story. We hope the Libyan people and the World are listening. Tune in next week, it should be interesting.
An Update from the Authors on 15 March 2015: We are pleased to announce that the prominent “Canadian philosopher and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at York University, Dr. Howard Adelman has given his critical insight into the issue of Libyan Assets Recovery. An author of many books; Dr. Adelman was one of the founders of Rochdale College, as well as the founder and director of York’s Centre for Refugee Studies. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, and presented the inaugural lecture in a series named in his honor at York University in 2008.”
In December 2014, Dr. Adelman LIKE(D) our article, George Clooney’s Friends-Amal Alamuddin, Samantha Power and R2P: Implications for Libya on 2014 US/ UN policy plan for Libya. We wrote to thank him for his recognition of our efforts. As Dr. Adelman writes on many pertinent issues, we asked him if he would consider examining the Libyan Assets Recovery issue. He graciously said, “I would be honored.”
So, we offer Dr. Adelman our sincere gratitude for making time to cover this issue & providing his critical insight.
The New Libya Report
Dr. Adelman’s site is Howard Adelman, Politics, philosophy, film, and other things…
In his March 2015 series of articles, Dr. Howard Adelman provided 3 scathing critiques on the Asset Recovery teams hired for the recovery of USD$ 2 Trillion of Libyan Assets looted by the Gaddafi Regime by these post-revolution Libyan parliaments and administrations; GNC, HoR and Zeidan, Thinni and Al Hassi. The following is a collection of stinging excerpts: HERE, HERE & HERE.
“…an overnight creation for this purpose”, “…is no record I could find in his career”, “…simply exist as a corporation for his personal business activities”, “…this is a very thin resumé”, “…demonstrates not one iota in any of the fields of expertise required for asset recovery”, ”… inexperience in asset recovery, even his petroleum consulting may be questionable”, “…Douglas Foree may be an even bigger flake than Erik Goaied”, “…neither of the two founding directors has any of the requisite expertise in asset recovery”, “…lobbying firm Ben Barnes Group headed by Ben Barnes, the former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and chief fundraiser for John Kerry”, “…had a practice of posting repeated supports for Gaddafi”, “…adamantly opposed to any form of Islamic government”, “…purchase of South African weaponry with the Libyan funds”, “…a frequent cover for an arms dealer”, “…whatever SS is, it does not advertise itself as having expertise in asset recovery”, “…$3-billion joint venture between Libya and South Africa”, “…$270-million signed arms deal between the Libyan Ministry of Defense and SS”, “…Of all the rogues involved in the recovery of Libyan assets, Menashe is by far the most interesting”, “…another notorious character”, “…a former member of Mossad” AND “Other than such a description, SS offers no record of any of the above activities and no contact persons other than the general manager Taha Buishi. The company is, however, listed under recycle.africa.net as a scrap metal dealer, a frequent cover for an arms dealer. Whatever SS (SAM SERJ) is, it does not advertise itself as having expertise in asset recovery.”
We think this sums up the scandal that is the Libyan Asset Recovery issue. This quote is from Dr. Adelman’s second article:
In a nutshell, billions and perhaps trillions of U.S. dollars of purloined Libyan assets are hidden away in various countries, but primarily in South Africa. The internationally-recognized government in Tobruk set up an assets recovery committee headed by Tag that contracted with an obscure Texas-based company with no known experience in asset recovery. WACG received funds and then passed those funds onto a very important lobby group with close connections to Secretary of State John Kerry. The U.S. would score a double gain, for the assets would be parked in the U.S., and, at the same time, the party most resistant to Islamists, more particularly General Haftar, could buy the military equipment it needs to defeat the Islamicists. Read More…
On the 10th of March 2015, Dr. Adelman started his three part series:
Mar10 by howardadelman An Introduction to Libya By Howard Adelman
So I am leaving the Iranian nuclear issue for now and will re-visit it at a later date. Instead of mounting complexity topping relatively simple choices, when we move to Libya we meet confusion head on. So I will have to clear the jungle before we get down to one single issue – wealth and lots of it. “Follow the Money,” This was the advice Deep Throat (Mark Felt) gave to Bob Woodward as the Watergate scandal unfolded. It certainly will apply to Libya in a myriad of ways. But in order to follow the money, you need to know who the main players are from whom you can choose the ones to follow, where they are now, where they have been and where they might be going. In addition to the pursuit of money, it also helps to know what else motivates the various players. Read More…
On the 12th of March 2015, Dr. Adelman released his second article:
The Quest for Libya’s Assets Mar12 by howardadelman For this blog, I am very grateful to the New Libya Report that allowed me to use the vast array of documents they had collected.
Money, Money, Money Makes the World Go Round – The Quest for Libya’s Assets By Howard Adelman
One of the two competing firms hired to recover Libyan assets is the Texas-based Washington African Consulting Group (WACG), an overnight creation for this purpose led by Erik Magnus Iskander Goaied and incorporated on 8 August 2014. Erik is of Tunisian and Swedish background and is a Swedish citizen, though he boasts extensive South African connections and lists his position as Director of Darron international marketing of South Africa. It is probably through Darron that between 2012-2014 he worked for Denel, the South African defense company, as a technical adviser to the German/South African defense company Rheinmetall Denel Munition (Pty) Ltd. In other words, Erik was probably an arms salesman.
Darron appears to simply exist as a corporation for his personal business activities. He also indicates that he was Managing Director of Terre d’Ancêtres of Tunisia. Though the company has a logo and seems to be in the business of chartering private jets, it also advertises itself as an international advisory group (the wording in its web page sates: “advising international group”) operating in the North African market with a specialty in both “the management of petroleum companies networks” (I believe he meant to write “companies’ networks”) as well as the installation and management of farming projects. Yet there is no record I could find in his career of doing either. He also lists himself as the North African exclusive distributor for Levtrade International of South Africa. Levtrade is a medical manufacturer of Burnshield Emergency Burn Care and First Aid Kits. He also lists himself as a director of Socam Sarl in Tunisia which may have been involved in marble excavation. Before that he was evidently a consultant in the petroleum industry and the night manager of a Sheraton Hotel. Read More…
On the 13th of March 2015, Dr. Adelman concluded with his last article:
The Competition – Libya and its Fortune Hunters Mar13 by howardadelman By Howard Adelman
One source of competition for the Washington African Consulting Group (WACG) is the Malta-based Sam Serj (SS) company in Tripoli led by Taha Buishi. SS advertises itself as a Libyan and African marketing company active in dealing with large projects in the following fields: oil and gas trade, petrochemical products and raw material trading. SS also claims to provide oil and gas consulting services and consulting services for large construction projects in Libya. SS also purports to provide guidance for investing in Libya. SS declares that it can provide financing, legal advice and logistic services as well as sea communications to connect to Libya as well as connections to the rest of the world for internet and phone services. I write this after correcting all the grammar and spelling errors on its web site. Other than such a description, SS offers no record of any of the above activities and no contact persons other than the general manager Taha Buishi. The company is, however, listed under recycle.africa.net as a scrap metal dealer, a frequent cover for an arms dealer. Whatever SS is, it does not advertise itself as having expertise in asset recovery. Read More…
In this passage Dr. Adelman discusses Ari Ben Menashe’s past connections to the American Government. Interesting considering Mr. Menashe links to the US government and that he has been working constantly as a lobbyist in Libya since 2013. At present he is now simultaneously working for two Libyan political factions. More intriguing is that while working as Ibrahim Jathran’s agent the April 2014 Morning Glory oil tanker incident occurred as a direct result of Mr. Menashe’s stated lobbying activities. Our article is about his lobbying activities with respect to Ibrahim Jathran and the Morning Glory incident: MORNING GLORY: A Jathran-ian Tale of Intrigue, Oil Assets and Hypocrisy.
Dr. Adelman continues:
The bottom line, of the three questionable agents in the race to recover the stolen loot, Menashe is by far the most experienced. After his service to Mossad, he went on to help ensure the election of Ronald Reagan in the fight against Jimmy Carter. He traces his résumé back to the election of Ronald Reagan for he was the agent who went to Tehran to persuade the government to continued holding the American hostages until after the election, thereby ensuring that Carter continue to bear the Scarlet letter of his inability to get the hostages returned while Reagan would enjoy the glory as part of his inauguration. Menashe was central in the Iran-Contra scandal and earlier in the plot to abduct Mordechai Vanunu from London and have him returned to Israel where Venunu spent decades in prison. Menashe’s apparent biggest handicap is that he has ostensibly been employed by the nominal government in Benghazi associated with al-Qaeda and, other than IS, least acceptable to Egypt, Russia and the U.S. Read More…
Our previous articles include:
The United States Embedded in Libya: Libyan National Assets – Tobruk 1962 & 2015
Erik Goaied 9 January 2015: ‘Without Data You’re Just Another Person with an Opinion’
Erik Goaied, Douglas Keith Foree & FARA #6261: The Recovered Libyan Assets to be kept “within the United States”
Ari Ben Menashe et al file NEW US Government FARA documents
Follow @newlibyareport
Parts of this op/ed article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
The New Libya Report 