Swiss prosecutors: No doubt that Libyan diplomats embezzled state funds

#Libyan_Cloud_News_Agency- Bern .

The Swiss newspaper “Tagesanzeiger” reported that a head physician at a city hospital in the Swiss capital Bern was convicted by a court for having supported two diplomats of the Libyan embassy in Bern to embezzle Libyan state money.

The court considered the diplomats to be the main culprits but due to their diplomatic immunity they could not be accused or convicted. According to the article, it was the Swiss bank Credit Suisse that brought up the case: Due to the high transactions, the bank has asked its client, the doctor in Bern, to explain transactions. The chief physician, however, was unable to give a coherent explanation for the transactions.

The bank therefore informed the office responsible for money laundering at the Federal Police Office, which in turn brought the case to the prosecutor in Bern for economic crimes.

The doctor’s lawyer explained that things were slightly different in Libya than in Switzerland. He sad that his client had in fact agreed in 2014 to a deal that looked strange: The diplomat from the Libyan Embassy in Bern sent files of Libyan patients to the doctor to give his therapeutic diagnosis and a cost estimate if the patients were to be treated in Switzerland.

The lawyer said that the doctor had received 20 percent of the estimated cost of treatment for his work and that the doctor was used to treat high ranked patients like embassy staff members and he also treated members of the Ghadafi regime at the time. In total, he gave out 18 estimations.

According to the newspaper “Tagesanzeiger” the diplomat did pay the the estimated costs for the treatments to the doctor although the patients were not treated by the doctor Bern. The doctor transferred then 80% of the received money to the special accounts of the Libyan diplomat. In order to do this deal and pay the money from Libyan public funds, the diplomat needed another Libyan diplomat to sign.

The diplomats of the Libyan Embassy transferred 935,000 Swiss francs to the doctor and according to the agreement with the diplomat, the doctor kept for himself 180,000 Swiss francs.

According to the Swiss prosecutor, the embassy officials were the main culprits but they enjoy diplomatic immunity as they are still working till today at the Libyan embassy in Bern.

The prosecution can not sue them for stealing money from their state. The doctor was convicted to 22 months conditional prison sentence and he must pay back his share to the canton of Bern – 180,00 Swiss francs. It is not know yet if he accepts his sentence or takes it to the higher court.