Libya court convicts two oil officials for importing sub-standard gasoline

TRIPOLI, July 16 (Reuters) – A court in Libya on Sunday convicted two oil sector officials of importing sub-standard gasoline fuel last year and sentenced them to 30 months imprisonment, adding they must repay 147.5 million Libyan dinars ($31 million).

Libya’s Attorney General said one of the unnamed officials was at the National Oil Corp (NOC) and the other at the Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NOC.The court also fined the two officials 10,000 Libyan dinars. A third suspect was acquitted. The attorney general said the two officials had received quantities of fuel that do not comply with Libyan standards, abused their positon, and wasted public money. Brega denied in a statement last year that the fuel “contains impurities”, following a wave of accusations on social media by angry citizens whose vehicles engines were damaged.

Oil-rich Libya has some of the world’s most generous fuel subsidies, leading to rampant smuggling within the country and across its borders. The illicit trade has benefited criminal networks that have flourished during years of political and armed conflict since the toppling of Mummar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

(Reporting by Ahmed ElumamiEditing by Alexandra Hudson)