Abdul Aziz links fuel smuggling to paralysis of the state
LIBYA – Former General National Congress member Mahmoud Abdul Aziz has accused fuel-smuggling networks and interest groups of draining billions of dinars of public money, arguing that weak border protection and widespread smuggling by land and sea are worsening the economic and security crisis and serving parties that do not want state institutions to function properly or elections to be held.
Questions over who benefits from continued smuggling
Speaking on the programme Between the Lines on Al-Tanasuh channel — followed and summarised by Al-Marsad — Abdul Aziz said smuggling was taking place by land and sea, asking who was smuggling people and currency, forging documents and assisting these operations, and who was obstructing the organisation of the country, elections and the referendum on the constitution.
He asked sarcastically whether it was Dar al-Ifta that was carrying out the smuggling, stressing the need to expose those involved and those helping them.
“Subsidies go to smugglers”, according to Abdul Aziz
He argued that the current fuel subsidy serves smugglers more than it benefits citizens, citing what he described as the eight dinars a citizen pays to fill up a car, and accusing smuggling networks of profiting from subsidies worth billions of dinars at people’s expense.
He claimed that the vested interests profiting from this money were the same ones obstructing the organisation of the state, elections and the referendum, and that they benefit from the subsidy not being converted into cash.
Border protection proposal dating back to 2012
Abdul Aziz said he had put forward a proposal in 2012 to secure Libya’s borders but that parties linked to the revolutionaries blocked it, adding that he suspected foreign intelligence services played a role, without naming any specific party.
He explained that his proposal covered the border with Tunisia and included checkpoints, watchtowers, day and night cameras and aerial surveillance, as well as barriers he described as “ropes” and minefields, examples of which he had seen in other countries, arguing that securing the borders requires a specialised system rather than piecemeal measures.
Criticism of lack of will and proposal to hire specialists
Abdul Aziz said border control was a science with its own principles, and accused influential parties of lacking serious political will to protect the country because of what he described as the dominance of a mafia seeking personal gain.
He warned of the many effects of smuggling on the economy, national security and the demographic make-up, and floated the idea of contracting a specialised firm to carry out a border protection project, expressing doubt that a national company could do the job given his concerns about commissions, corruption and conflicts of interest.
