Libya's new bank notes picture Colonel Gaddafi

Central banker says Libyans are stuck with the bank notes

Britain's RAF has flown 40 tonnes of cash to Libya, to a value of 280 million Libyan dinars. The cash represents some of the Libyan coffers that were frozen in Britain when the Libyan government assets were frozen.

Unfortunately for the rebels, when the cash reached the Libyan central bank in Benghazi it was revealed that the bank notes, printed in Britain, actually carry the image of a smiling Col. Gaddafi.

Dr. Qasem Azzoz, head of the bank, said, "It's not a new design. It's the old one. These were ordered and printed before we could do anything about it," the

The cash that has been received was part of a shipment of money ordered by Col. Gaddafi but impounded by Britain as sanctions were imposed on Libya. The money is now under the control of the Libyan rebel Transitional National Council and is intended to pay wages to public sector workers and to provide aid.   

According to Kuna.net, there are tens of billions in frozen Libyan assets, held by countries including Britain, the U.S., France, Germany and Italy. France is currently working to unfreeze some assets and French foreign minister Alan Juppe said, "We have to help the National Transitional Council (as) the country is devastated."

The money rightly belongs to Libya but there is no evidence that the members of the National Transitional Council have a track record of dealing with such large amounts of money. They were unable to provide legitimate accounts of expenditure during the conflict as they spent $86 million a day continually requesting that money be provided to assist their revolt.