With the background of several foreign oil companies and services companies operating in Libya reportedly being owed mounting debts by the NOC/its subsidiaries, Libya’s Audit Bureau reported today that its Head, Khaled Shakshak, held a meeting with the Director General of the Department for Oversight of the Energy and Public Enterprises Sector, along with the high-level committee tasked with supervising the audit of the financial obligations (debts) of the National Oil Corporation and its subsidiaries.
The meeting focused on reviewing the progress of the examination and audit process, discussing the methodology for verifying submitted claims, scrutinizing their legal and financial grounds, and ensuring that audit procedures are conducted in accordance with the Bureau’s regulatory mandate and established professional standards.
The meeting also addressed the follow-up on a 4-billion-dinar financial allocation intended to settle a portion of the financial obligations of the NOC and its subsidiaries for the 2024–2025 fiscal years—obligations which the NOC, based on its own inventory, has estimated at approximately 35 billion dinars (about US$ 5 billion).
No liabilities to be imposed on public treasury without valid legal or financial basis
The Audit Bureau has subjected the utilization of this allocation to concurrent oversight to verify the origins of these obligations, the legitimacy of their inception, the validity of the supporting documentation, and the justification for their payment, thereby ensuring that no liabilities are imposed on the public treasury without a valid legal or financial basis.
Audit Bureau discovered invalid claims of LD 2 billion
The Audit Bureau previously conducted a review of the liabilities of the NOC and its subsidiaries for the years preceding 2022, which were estimated at approximately 6 billion dinars. The examination and audit process resulted in the exclusion of claims totalling 2 billion dinars, as they failed to meet the necessary legal and documentary requirements. The review ultimately validated outstanding liabilities amounting to 4 billion dinars.
In this context, the Audit Bureau emphasized that financial claims—regardless of their source or magnitude—do not automatically qualify as legitimate, enforceable rights simply by being recorded in statements or included in submitted claims. Furthermore, the allocation of financial appropriations for their settlement does not substitute for the verification of their legitimacy; the validity of a claim hinges upon the proven existence of the underlying obligation, the soundness of its legal basis, the integrity of its origin, and its compliance with all requisite legal and documentary standards.
Accordingly, the Audit Bureau said it continues to fulfil its oversight responsibilities by subjecting financial liabilities to rigorous examination and review. Working in close coordination with the National Oil Corporation, the it said it verifies the validity of settlements before any financial consequences take effect. This ensures that the public treasury is not burdened by obligations lacking a firm legal basis, prevents the diversion of public funds to ineligible parties, and upholds the rule of law and the principle of legality in the management of public resources.
