The British Multicultural Forum in London, a research center that includes a large number of academics and media professionals, organized a symposium entitled “The Crisis of the Libyan Central Bank: Causes, Results, and Solutions.” The symposium was attended by Dr. Ramadan Bin Zair, Professor of International Law and Secretary-General of the Arab-European Center for Human Rights and International Law, Dr. Omar Zarmouh, Professor of Economics at the Libyan Academy, Dr. Suleiman Al-Shahoumi, founder of the Libyan banknote market, and Dr. Osama Al-Qadi, a Syrian economic expert from Canada. The dialogue was moderated by Professor Ali Al-Haj Hussein and Dr. Nourjan Sarghaya.
The symposium was opened with an intervention by Dr. Bin Zair, who stressed that the crisis of the Central Bank of Libya did not arise today or yesterday, but rather extends back nearly 10 years, but it was further exacerbated by the issuance of Presidential Council Decision No. 19 of 2024, which issued a ruling appointing a governor for the Central Bank, which was published on August 12, 2024.
Dr. Bin Zair said: “Through the preamble to the decision, I noticed that it was based on the state of necessity and the public interest and on the declaration of comprehensive mobilization, noting that the House of Representatives is the original authority to appoint the governor of the Central Bank of Libya after consulting with the Supreme Council of State.”
Dr. Ben Zir added that the Presidential Council may consider its decision as one of the revealing decisions. To clarify this, the administrative decision, in terms of the nature of its effects, can be divided into two parts:
- Decisions establishing new legal positions or changing existing legal positions
- The second category of decisions is known as revealing decisions, which do not create a new legal status, but rather decide an existing situation that reveals an existing legal status.
Dr. Ben Zir explained that by applying this legal rule to the Presidential Council’s decision, the decision to appoint Mohamed El-Shokry is one of the decisions revealing a pre-existing legal status issued in 2018 and was not implemented or cancelled by the House of Representatives. However, El-Shokry’s failure to respond and his apology for assuming the position prompted the Presidential Council to issue a new decision under No. 20/2024 to reconstitute the Central Bank’s Board of Directors from 8 individuals until an agreement is reached on a Board of Directors in accordance with the roadmap for a comprehensive solution and the Bouznika Agreement.
Ben Zeir added: “However, the dismissed governor insisted on holding on to the position, considering the presidential decision illegal, and then he came out to us the day before yesterday in a press interview, revealing himself to be unaware of the Banking Law No. 1 of 2005 and its amendments, which outlines the duties of the governor and the board of directors of the Central Bank.”
Dr. Bin Zair noted that the Central Bank is managed individually and has not had a board of directors for several years, in clear violation of the Banking Law. Thus, the dismissed governor, due to the individual management, has committed grave errors against the Libyan economy, the spread of the parallel market, and the creation of disturbances in monetary operations, which is the primary function of the Central Bank. Article 5 of the Banking Law No. 1 of 2005 stipulates that the primary function of the Central Bank is to work to create monetary stability and address any disturbances in that.
Dr. Bin Zair added: “We also must not forget what the governor did by imposing a 27% fee or tax on foreign currency sales, which requires a law issued by the legislative authority and not a decision issued by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. For your information, this decision was rejected and ruled invalid and cancelled by 5 Libyan courts, but Al-Kabir refused to abide by the rulings of the Libyan judiciary and did not pay any attention to these rulings. He continued his stubbornness and refused to implement the court ruling and abide by it, forgetting that this refusal places a legal and moral responsibility on him that is punishable by Libyan law. This is not the first time that the dismissed governor has not adhered to the rulings of the judiciary. He had previously rejected the ruling of the Supreme Court, which is the highest judicial authority in Libya, that his decision to dismiss Dr. Muhammad Bin Youssef from the presidency of the Libyan Foreign Bank was illegitimate and ruled to return him to his position as the head of the Libyan Foreign Bank.”
Dr. Ben Zir wondered: “What is strange is that Mr. Al-Kabir demands the application of the law while he refuses to abide by its provisions.
Isn’t this a kind of double standard?”
Dr. Ben Zeir continued in his speech by saying: “I wish that Mr. Al-Kabeer would not come out to us in the media and boast that he is supported by the Americans and the Turks and tell us that he contacted more than 30 international institutions and asked them not to cooperate with the board of directors assigned to manage the bank by the Presidential Council, forgetting that such actions from outside the country are punishable by the Libyan Penal Code. It was also a negative message to the interior and exterior that Libya is robbed of its will and has lost its sovereignty.
Dr. Bin Zair called on the dismissed governor to apologize to the Libyan people for such irresponsible actions that further complicate the crisis and to be one of the men who take minor sins lightly when there are major ones.
He added: “What is the importance of the position when you see your people suffering because of the crisis that you helped complicate? You know that delaying the solution to the crisis will result in the collapse of the Libyan dinar, especially in light of the oil shutdown, and those who pay the heavy price are the Libyan people, not those who lead the political scene.”
Dr. Ben Zeir concluded his speech by saying: “All the ruling political bodies in Libya, east and west, can be called de facto authorities, considering that all of these bodies have lost legal legitimacy either by the expiration of the term or by a court ruling, but the conflict in Libya is a political conflict, not a legal one.”
Last update: September 22, 2024 – 22:10
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2024-09-23 16:12:24