Businessman who bribed Gaddafi’s son sentenced

Saadi Gaddafi is the third son of the former Libyan leader Keystone

A Tunisian-Canadian businessman who bribed the son of the Libyan ex-dictator, Moammar Gaddafi, for work contracts has been sentenced by a Swiss court. The man had personally profited to the sum of around CHF40 million ($38.2 million).

The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona handed down the sentence as the defendant had used a bank account in Geneva to transfer the money in and out of Libya. He was also found guilty of money laundering.
As he has already spent over two years in pre-trial custody, the man will no longer remain in prison, after being given a three-year suspended sentence on Wednesday.

Of the millions the businessman made from his dealings, some was spent on buying property in Switzerland and France. Elements of this portfolio were confiscated as part of the verdict.

The man had worked for the Canadian construction company, SNC Lavalin, since 1985 and from 2007 he had been predominantly concerned with the North African business.

His former employer was one of the complainants in the case – he was ordered to pay CHF12.8 million to the firm in damages.

According to the original indictment, there was a connection between the construction firm’s Libyan business under the Gaddafi regime and the family of the former Tunisian president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The businessman, who grew up in Tunisia, was able to establish a connection to Saadi Gaddafi through the husband of one of Ben Ali’s daughters. He then used unlawful means to convince the dictator’s son to secure infrastructure contracts for him.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it is the first conviction in Switzerland for bribes paid to former state officials in countries involved in the Arab Spring.