Searching for Gaddafi's treasure: The new war

(Baonghean) -“King Ngo, thirty-six tons of gold/ Died and could not bring anything to the underworld” (Vietnamese folk song), that was also the situation of the overthrown leader Gaddafi. Up to now, the assets of the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years are still a hot topic, and the suspicion that there was a treasure Gaddafi left behind before fleeing continues to attract many parties to join the investigation.

Although he was the youngest son in a peasant family with no significant assets, with 42 consecutive years in the highest position of power in a country of 6 million people, with abundant oil resources, Colonel Gaddafi's assets made the world's top billionaires bow: Gaddafi's total assets were around 200 billion USD.

Meanwhile, according to Forbes Magazine, in the most recent list of the 10 richest billionaires in the world (2012), the top 3 are: Media tycoon - Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu maintained the title of the richest person in the world for the 4th consecutive year when his assets increased by 4 billion USD compared to 2011 and reached 73 billion USD; followed by Bill Gates, in 2012 Bill Gates' assets increased by 6 billion USD, he currently owns 67 billion USD, and is the second richest person in the world; the assets of Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega - the 3rd richest person is 57 billion USD.

Comparing like that, we can see that some of Gaddafi's previous extremely "arrogant" statements all had their reasons: "I am an international leader, the leader of Arab leaders, the king of African kings and the leader of Islam. My international position does not allow me to be in a lower position." (Said after the Arab summit in Qatar).

Gaddafi was officially overthrown in late August 2011 and was killed by rebel forces on October 20, 2011 in Sirte (Libya). There are currently circulating sources that Gaddafi had disposed of a huge amount of gold, diamonds, and cash before fleeing. Therefore, for many years, not only the people but also the country's officials have been caught up in the illusion of searching for the treasure that Gaddafi hid, estimated to be worth up to 10 billion USD. According to some sources, Gaddafi hid this treasure while on the run, and the hiding place is a neighboring country, most likely South Africa.

The overthrown leader of Libya – Gaddafi.

That is why recently, the spokesman of the Democratic Alliance Party, Tim Harris, wrote to the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, asking him to conduct a full investigation into the Libyan assets (if any) that were transferred to South Africa. Harris then asked South Africa to send the UN documents related to Libyan assets and persistently pursue the traces of gold diggers and opportunistic treasure hunters.

In response, Mr. Gordhan said that the Libyan government only made normal commercial investments in South Africa. During a meeting with Libyan Prime Minister Usama al-Abid, Mr. Gordhan affirmed that if South Africa found Gaddafi's treasure, they would notify the United Nations. Not only the people, or the post-Gaddafi authorities, but even the United Nations were not indifferent to this huge fortune. In 2011, the United Nations established a committee to search for the huge amount of assets that Gaddafi was believed to have acquired.

The search has been going on for more than 2 years, and now it has been heated up again into an equally fierce race. Public opinion is still waiting to see the truth of this incident. As for Gaddafi's nature, everyone must have understood, until now, not many people still believe in his famous saying "There is no country with democracy, except Libya on this planet".

Chi Linh Son