Tripoli: Libya’s health minister and his deputy have been detained as part of a corruption probe, prosecutors said on Wednesday, the third detention of a cabinet member in recent weeks.
Ali Zenati and his deputy were held for questioning over suspected "imports of oxygen concentrators at 10 times the market value", which may amount to "non-compliance with regulations related to public contracts", said a prosecution statement.
The ministry had signed contracts with a company founded in August last year "despite it lacking... the necessary experience to carry out the agreed tasks", it added. The government of interim prime minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah did not immediately comment on the detentions.
Libya has been mired in perpetual crisis since the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Qadhafi, and corruption is rife throughout state institutions. Zenati’s detention comes after prosecutors questioned Culture Minister Mabrouka Touki in late December over a contract for maintenance works on ministry buildings which had already been refurbished.
WASHINGTON: Lawyers for Ryan Corbett, an American held by the Taliban for nearly two years without charge, on Thursday...
NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was overturned by New York’s highest...
WASHINGTON: Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy on Thursday to the argument that presidents...
DUBAI: A Palestinian civil defence team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war...
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in...
GENEVA: The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality in six weeks, an...
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a hard-fought bill into law on Wednesday that provides billions of dollars of...
MOSCOW: A Russian court on Tuesday rejected the latest in a series of appeals by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan...