A court has ordered that some €96 million held at Bank of Valletta by the heirs of one of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons are returned to the Libyan state.

The case was filed six years ago by the Libyan Attorney General.

The money belonged to Mutassim Gaddafi, with millions held in his American Express and Visa credit accounts. For years, the money was managed by former Labour Party treasurer Joe Sammut.

The three accounts at BOV were held in the name of Capital Resources. The company was owned by Gaddafi, but his name appeared as Muatasimbllah Muammar Abuminyar.

Mutassim Ghaddafi died in October 2011 after the fall of Sirte.

The Libyan AG, represented in Malta by lawyer Shazoo Ghaznavi, had accused BOV of breaching KYC (know your customer) rules, saying it should never have opened accounts for Gaddafi.

The claims were contested by Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash Gaddafi. She now lives in Oman with three of her children.

Her lawyer, Charilos Oikonomopoulos, said Mutassim had another previously unknown wife and heir, Dutch model Lisa van Goinga and her son. 

He also argued that the money held in Malta was not government-owned but were Gaddafi’s private funds.

Oikonomopoulos was assisted by lawyer Louis Cassar Pullicino. Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace was nominated by the courts to act as deputy curator on behalf of the unknown heirs of Mutassin Gaddafi.