Switzerland’s Kolmar Group accused of profiting from smuggled Libyan oil
Two Swiss NGOs, Trial International and Public Eye, have filed a criminal complaint with authorities in Switzerland against the country’s Kolmar Group, accusing the trading company of likely war crimes for allegedly profiting from smuggled Libyan oil.
TRIAL International said an investigation conducted jointly with Public Eye had revealed that Kolmar had purchased oil smuggled out of Libya by rebel forces, in defiance of UN and international resolutions.
The oil ‘was diverted from Libyan tanks with the complicity of an armed group, transhipped from Libyan fishing boats to larger vessels chartered by two Maltese businessmen in international waters, and finally transported to Malta,’ alleges the complaint, filed with Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General.
‘This is where the name of Kolmar Group AG appears: according to the investigation, the Swiss trader purchased more than 50,000 tonnes of gasoil stored in tanks of the Maltese capital between 2014 and 2015,’ TRIAL International says on its website.
According to findings in the report, Kolmar received more than 20 shipments of gasoil from Libya over that time.
In a ‘Right of Reply’ statement, Kolmar does not deny that it purchased Libyan gasoil in Malta, but says it did not knowingly do anything wrong and had nothing to do with falsified documents in connection with the sale.
‘Kolmar Group AG did not falsify any documents nor had any knowledge of fraudulent activity in relation to customs clearing Libyan gasoil. Kolmar Group AG had no involvement with the issuance or procurement of the certificates of origin, which were provided to Kolmar Group AG by its supplier who arranged the shipment,’ the company said. ‘Kolmar Group AG was not trading in breach of any international sanctions.’
Philip Grant, TRIAL’s International’s Executive Director, said: ‘There were a significant number of indicators… that should have deterred Kolmar from carrying out these transactions. We believe that the evidence gathered warrant an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General to determine whether Kolmar wilfully ignored such signals. If so, the company may have been complicit in a war crime.’
War-torn Libya is split between the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (‘GNA’) in Tripoli and the rebel Libyan National Army (‘LNA’) in the east, led by renegade general Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar’s forces have carried out a clandestine campaign of smuggling Libyan oil from the eastern oil fields and selling it below market prices, in defiance of UN and international sanctions that allow purchases only from the recognised GNA. In February 2018, the United States also issued a new round of sanctions targeting smuggled Libyan oil.
