Austria freezes Gaddafi associate’s assets

Austria’s Central Bank yesterday froze the assets of one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s close associates, who left Tripoli late last month to seek refuge in Vienna. Under the bank’s freeze order, which was published in the official journal...

Austria’s Central Bank yesterday froze the assets of one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s close associates, who left Tripoli late last month to seek refuge in Vienna.

Under the bank’s freeze order, which was published in the official journal yesterday and comes into effect immediately, Mustafa Zarti will no longer have access to any of his funds in Austria.

The foreign ministry in Vienna had asked the OeNB on Wednesday to look into a freeze for Mr Zarti, noting that he “has assets and might make them available to other representatives of the Libyan regime”.

Mr Zarti, who holds an Austrian passport, left Tripoli to take refuge in Vienna on February 21.

News reports said he looked after Mr Gaddafi’s assets in Austria, which according to the daily Die Presse were worth nearly $30 billion (€22 billion) and were mostly hidden away in foundations.

Mr Zarti was grilled by Austrian anti-terrorism police on Thursday but was later released, Interior Minister Maria Fekter said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.