2025 saw the unraveling of one of the largest waves of financial corruption in the history of Libya’s banking sector. Cases involving embezzlement, forgery, gross negligence, and mismanagement escalated sharply within both public and private bank branches.
Investigations, monitored by Almanassa using data from the Public Prosecution Office, reveal the profound extent of administrative and financial abuses that compromised public funds and eroded confidence in the local banking system, triggering growing demands for radical reforms in internal oversight and credit management.
The Anatomy of Banking Fraud and Financial Crimes
The map of corruption during the year covered seven major Libyan banks: Sahari Bank, Gumhouria Bank, National Commercial Bank, Aman Bank for Commerce and Investment, Wahda Bank, North Africa Bankا, and the Agricultural Bank. The main charges levied against officials and employees included: embezzlement and seizure of public funds, forgery in accounting records and documents, granting loans and credit facilities in violation of legal regulations, illicit foreign currency trading via fraudulent credits, and recording fictitious profits to conceal financial losses.
Analysis of the cases handled by the Public Prosecution Office revealed several interrelated patterns of corruption:
Forgery and Direct Embezzlement: Forgery in accounting entries and data was prominent, leading to manipulation of balances and transactions in branches of banks like North Africa Bank and Aman Bank, causing damages estimated at over 14 million dinars. Additionally, officials and employees at Gumhouria Bank and Sahari Bank were implicated in direct embezzlement exceeding 20 million dinars through fraudulent public fund withdrawals.
Illegal Loans and Facilities: Credit facilities and loans issued in violation of controls were a primary channel for misappropriating public funds. Massive credits were approved without real guarantees at the National Commercial Bank and the Agricultural Bank, with losses estimated at over 30 million dinars.
Forex Trading and Regulatory Deception: Illicit foreign currency trading took an organised form via fraudulent letters of credit, as exposed by investigations at Sahari Bank, where the value of abuses reached approximately 53 million dinars. Furthermore, cases of recording fictitious profits to mask actual losses, aimed at misleading supervisory bodies, were centred at Sahari Bank, resulting in estimated losses of 15 million dinars.
Judicial Severity and Key Convictions
The Public Prosecution Office demonstrated clear resolve in pursuing those involved, issuing both precautionary detention orders and referring cases to criminal courts. The judiciary delivered severe sentences, with prison terms ranging from one year up to 13 years, and financial penalties that collectively exceeded 80 million dinars, in addition to the confiscation of properties and real estate purchased with illicit funds.
Key convictions included:
Sahari Bank: The Assistant General Manager and financial officials were indicted for recording fictitious profits worth 15 million dinars (August). Three former officials were ordered to repay 300 million dinars for facilitating illegal pre-2011 loans (July). Furthermore, a former branch manager and three employees were convicted of embezzling 1.5 million dinars (March), and credit management directors were convicted of funding unregistered companies for illegal forex trading, compelling them to repay 53 million dinars (February).
Gumhouria Bank: A vice branch manager in Surman and eight employees were convicted of embezzling 12 million dinars, with the principal defendant sentenced to 12 years in prison and property confiscation (April). A branch manager in Ragdaleen and a financial employee were convicted of forging a bank cheque and seizing 1.5 million dinars (June). A branch manager was detained for seizing 904,000 dinars using forged documents (October).
National Commercial Bank: Eleven employees at the Tripoli Central Hospital agency were convicted of embezzling 29 million dinars, fined 58 million dinars, and had luxury properties confiscated (April). Six employees in Al Bayda were convicted and sentenced to up to 4 years for granting illegal loans (April).
Aman Bank: Ajdabiya branch manager was detained after withdrawing 1.06 million dinars and handing it to strangers for illegal forex trading (October). Three employees were sentenced to 6 years for forging Visa cards and withdrawing client allocations without their knowledge (February).
Agricultural Bank: Al-Aziziya branch manager was detained for granting a 2.7 million dinar loan without collateral (July). Qasr Bin Ghashir branch manager was convicted and sentenced to between 3 and 4 years for granting illicit loans (April).
North Africa Bank: Mizda branch manager was detained for forging account data and transferring 12.7 million dinars to his personal account (May).
Wahda Bank: An employee in the general administration was detained for seizing 100,000 dinars from a customer’s account (January).
Consequences and the Call for Reform
The succession of these high-profile cases has triggered genuine fear among citizens regarding the weak oversight within the banking sector, particularly amidst persistent administrative chaos and the absence of a unified internal audit system across bank branches. Financial experts view this banking corruption as one of the foremost challenges to economic stability in Libya.
2025 represented a turning point in exposing bank corruption, but it simultaneously revealed the complexity of the fragile administrative and financial networks that facilitated the exploitation of legal loopholes for illicit gains. Notably, this extensive exposure has been met with no reaction or announced measures from the management of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), which opted for silence regarding the banking corruption files at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, raising serious questions about its planned actions to address this critical issue. Radical reform and comprehensive restructuring are now deemed essential to guarantee the protection of public funds and restore citizen trust in financial institutions.
