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FACTBOX-Sanctions agains Libya

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 14 March 2011 11:52 GMT

March 14 (Reuters) - Western countries, the European Union and United Nations have imposed sanctions on Libya and frozen government assets. [nTOPMEAST]

Here are details of sanctions against Libya:

AUSTRALIA: Australia has imposed sanctions on Gaddafi and his inner circle, including bans on financial dealings with 22 individuals and bans on entering Australian territory.

AUSTRIA: Austria has ordered a freeze of any assets belonging to Gaddafi, his family and other associates. Its central bank has said some 1.2 billion euros (${esc.dollar}1.66 billion) in Libyan assets were deposited in Austrian institutions.

-- Austria widened an asset freeze list on March 4 to include Mustafa Zarti, deputy chief at the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA,) because of possible links to Gaddafi's inner circle. Zarti has an Austrian passport. Lawyers for Zarti, filed an appeal on March 9 with Austria's Constitutional Court against the asset freeze order from the central bank, a spokesman for Zarti said.

BRITAIN: Britain has frozen 12 billion pounds (${esc.dollar}19.2 billion) of Libyan assets, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on March 11. Britain has also said it has lifted his diplomatic immunity.

-- The asset freeze covers not only assets held in the names of Gaddafi and his children, but assets controlled by them. -- The Gaddafi family is reported to have billions of dollars of investments in London, while Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, owns a 10 million pound (${esc.dollar}16 million) home there.

-- Britain also extended a freeze on Gaddafi family assets to a further 20 members of his entourage and impounded around 100 million pounds of Libyan currency.

CANADA: Canada has frozen C${esc.dollar}2.3 billion (${esc.dollar}2.4 billion) worth of assets belonging to Gaddafi, it said on March 1.

-- Ottawa announced a clampdown on doing business with Libyan institutions on Feb. 27 and later said it had blocked unspecified financial dealings the Libyan government had planned to carry out in Canada.

GERMANY: The economy ministry said on March 10 it had frozen bank accounts belonging to Libya. Access to money of the Libyan Central Bank, Libya Africa Investment Portfolio, Libyan Foreign Bank and Libyan Investment Authority is forbidden until further notice, the ministry said.

ITALY: The Bank of Italy on March 2 ordered financial institutions to report any suspicious movements in accounts held by members of the Gaddafi family or his government.

LUXEMBOURG: Luxembourg froze accounts of the Libyan Central Bank and the Libyan Investment Authority on March 8. The accounts held less than 1 billion euros. (${esc.dollar}1.39 billion)

JAPAN: Japan imposed sanctions on Libya on March 8, including freezing assets of Gaddafi and several other Libyans, in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution. They also include a ban on Gaddafi and others from travelling to Japan.

RUSSIA: President Dmitry Medvedev banned Gaddafi and his family from Russia and from carrying out financial transactions in the country, the Kremlin said on Monday.

-- Russia said it would ban all weapons sales to Libya on March 10, effectively suspending billions of dollars worth of arms contracts with the Gaddafi government. The ban includes financial loans and training aimed at bolstering Libya's military.

-- Unrest in Libya cost Russia ${esc.dollar}4 billion in weapon sales to the region, a senior Russian arms official said last week.

SPAIN: Spain has frozen a tourism project on the Costa del Sol owned by Gaddafi and is seeking other assets and bank accounts linked to the Libyan leader, the Foreign Ministry said.

-- Spain revoked two defence material export licences to Libya, its Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on March 9. The two licences were suspended by Spain to Libya in February, but Zapatero said they would be now revoked.

SWITZERLAND: Switzerland ratcheted up pressure on Gaddafi on March 4 by banning transfers of money that could end up in the hands of his family and associates. The decision could affect Libyan oil company Tamoil, which operates a 72,000 bpd refinery in western Switzerland.

-- Switzerland said on Feb. 24 it was freezing any assets Gaddafi and his family might have in the country. The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it was not clear if Gaddafi and parties close to him actually did have assets in Switzerland.

-- Libya's Foreign Ministry denied Gaddafi holds banks accounts in Switzerland or in any other bank around the world.

UNITED STATES: The U.S. Treasury said on March 11 it had extended asset-freeze sanctions to Gaddafi's wife, four of his children and four senior officials in his government. The action bans U.S. persons from conducting transactions with them and seeks to freeze assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

-- President Barack Obama had signed an executive order on Feb. 25 freezing the assets of Gaddafi, his family and top officials, as well as the Libyan government, the country's central bank and sovereign wealth funds.

-- A U.S. Treasury Department official said on Feb. 28 about ${esc.dollar}30 billion in assets in the United States have been blocked from access by Gaddafi and his family.

INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS

EUROPEAN UNION: EU governments approved a package of sanctions on Feb. 28 against Gaddafi and his closest advisers, including an arms embargo and bans on travel to the bloc.

-- The 27 EU states agreed on visa bans and to freeze the assets of 27 individuals including Gaddafi, his family and government, and ban the sale of goods such as tear gas and anti-riot equipment.

-- EU states have also added the ${esc.dollar}70 billion Libyan Investment Authority, the Libyan central bank, and three other institutions to a sanctions list.

ICC: The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on March 2 he would open an investigation into the violence in Libya after the U.N. Security Council referred the case to the Hague-based court.

UNITED NATIONS: The Security Council imposed an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes on Gaddafi and his family on Feb. 26, and referred Libya's crackdown on anti-government demonstrators to the International Criminal Court.

-- On March 1, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously suspended Libya's membership in the U.N. Human Rights Council because of violence against protesters by Gaddafi forces.

-- The resolution was adopted by consensus in the 192-nation General Assembly on the basis of a recommendation from the 47-member Geneva-based council, the principal U.N. rights forum. That body accused Libyan authorities of "gross and systematic violations of human rights".

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