Gaddafi stashed billions on Wall Street, in Europe: Report

NEW YORK: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stashed away billions of dollars of oil revenues on Wall Street and in Europe, according to a report published by Global Witness, an international advocacy group.

The New York Times, which first reported on the document, said that Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan, HSBC Holdings and Societe Generale are among the major banks that have helped the strongman to invest some of the Libyan sovereign wealth fund's USD 53 billion.

The Times, which called report authentic, said that it is a summary of the Libyan Investment Authority's investments, created for the fund by the London office of the KPMG consulting firm and dated June 30, 2010.

"The Gaddafi family has significant personal control over the state funds invested in the Libyan Investment Authority," Global Witness said in a statement.

According to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, "Gaddafi makes no distinction between his personal assets and the resources of the country".

In February, the UN Security Council imposed targeted financial sanctions against assets of Gaddafi and his family.

The report showed Goldman Sachs holding USD 43 million in three accounts and HSBC holding USD 292.69 million across 10 accounts.

The Libyan fund also invested USD 171 million worth of such instruments through JP Morgan Chase.

The fund also invested billions of dollars in the stocks of well-known companies, including General Electric, Halliburton, BP and Nokia, and held a large portfolio of United States government bonds.