Libyan Health Minister Caught In Corruption Put Into Judicial Custody
The Libyan Health Minister Ali al-Zenati is under the scanner over charges of corruption. He and his second in command have now found themselves in custody over alleged corruption in the prices of oxygen cylinders with notoriety of scaled up prices.
Covid 19 seems to have brought out the devil in
many who have made a lot of money over PPE and related services, at the expense
of people’s wellbeing. In a statement
made by the Attorney General it was said that, the government had “heard about
the failure to comply with the regulations applied in administrative contracts
..., especially regarding the sale of oxygen production units, with a markup of
up to 1000% of the purchase price.” The same source also cites "the
signing of contracts directly with companies founded on August 10, 2021, which
do not meet the requirements of solvency and expertise to carry out the work
subject to the contracts."
Both have now been placed under pre-trial custody
before the case is heard in court, stripping them off their administrative
position and power.
The Minister of Health is the third in PM Abdulhamid
Dbeibah’s government to be investigated in recent weeks. On December 20,
the education minister was detained as part of an investigation into a general
shortage of textbooks in the country, where the functioning of many services is
disrupted by the chaos.
Since 2011, when Muammar Gaddafi was removed
from his dictatorial role, the country has not seen a stable governance. Corruption
is rampant within the institutions that are eating up public services and
finances.
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