Decision No. 195 of 2024 on Establishing the Agency for Combating Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, and Terrorism Financing

Decision No. 195 of 2024 establishes the Agency for Combating Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, and Terrorism Financing, effective April 2024.

Council of Ministers,

• After reviewing the Constitutional Declaration issued on August 3, 2011, and its amendments.
• And upon the Libyan Political Agreement signed on December 17, 2015.
• And upon the outcomes of the Libyan Dialogue Forum held on November 9, 2020.
• And upon the State Financial Regulation Law and the Budget, Accounts, and Stores Regulations and their amendments.
• And upon Law No. 12 of 2010 concerning issuing the Employment Relations Law and its executive regulations.
• And upon Law No. 5 of 2018 concerning the police force and its amendment by Law No. 6 of 2019.
• And upon the decision of the House of Representatives in its session held on March 10, 2021, in Sirte regarding granting confidence to the Government of National Unity.
• And upon the Cabinet's Decision No. 145 of 2012, adopting the organizational structure and competencies of the Ministry of Interior and organizing its administrative apparatus.
• and upon the Presidential Council's Decision No. 198 of 2021, creating an office in the organizational structure of the Ministry of Interior's administrative apparatus.
• And upon the letter from the Director of the General Administration for Cabinet Affairs No. 73333 dated April 22, 2024.
• And upon what was decided by the Cabinet in its first material meeting of 2024.
  Decided:

Article 1

An agency named the Agency for Combating Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, and Terrorism Financing is established. It has juridical personality and financial autonomy and shall report to the Cabinet.

Article 2

The agency shall be responsible for the following tasks:

• Combatting economic crimes, apprehending perpetrators, and undertaking criminal procedures against them.
• Collecting information and investigating crimes of public money theft, money laundering, and terrorism financing from all sources.
• Gathering evidence in cases where information is collected or referred to security and judicial authorities or special sources, including reports, documents and references of all kinds, including electronic telegrams and the like, and all other evidence.
• Direct cooperation and communication with the competent authorities concerned with combating money laundering at the Central Bank of Libya and its units in the commercial banks operating in Libya and taking necessary actions regarding their reports.
• Preparing a database about all incidents related to financial crimes, money laundering, and terrorism financing.
• Exchanging information with related authorities involved in financial crimes, money laundering, and terrorism financing.
• Taking all necessary measures to detect the money and perpetrators of these crimes wherever they are found outside the Libyan territory, in accordance with the effective legislation and as required by the same mission.
• Adopting and introducing innovations regarding methods used in handling these crimes and ways to detect them in accordance with local and international regulations, as well as preparing studies thereon.
• Coordinating with the Arab and International Criminal Police Offices and related organizations and agencies to issue arrest warrants for those proven involved in money laundering and terrorism financing.
• Participating in seminars, conferences, and workshops related to financial crime, money laundering, and terrorism financing both locally, regionally, and internationally.

Article 3

The agency shall be headed by a president, who will be appointed by a decision from the prime minister.

Article 4

The agency shall have an organizational structure, the specifics of which and its competencies shall be issued by a decision from the Cabinet based on a presentation from the agency's president.

Article 5

The President of the agency shall fully supervise the agency and its operations, and shall specifically have the following responsibilities:

• Monitoring the operations of the agency.
• Supervising the preparation of the agency's operational budget and referring it to the competent authorities.
• Proposing the organizational structure of the agency and presenting it to the Cabinet.
• Issuing administrative and legal decisions in accordance with the effective legislations.
• Representing the agency in its relations with others and before the judiciary.
• Preparing periodic reports on the agency's activities and presenting them to the Prime Minister.

Article 6

The employees designated by a decision from the Cabinet shall be granted the status of judicial officers.

Article 7

The agency shall prepare an independent budget in accordance with the applicable accounting systems. Its fiscal year shall start at the beginning of the state's fiscal year and end at its conclusion, provided that the agency's first fiscal year starts from the date this decision takes effect and ends at the end of the current fiscal year.

Article 8

The agency shall have one or more bank accounts where its funds shall be deposited and opened in one of the banks operating within Libya in accordance with the effective legislation.

The Court of Auditors shall examine and review the accounts of the agency in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 19 of 2013 referred to herein.

Article 9

This decision shall be effective from the date of its issuance, and the competent authorities shall execute it.

• Council of Ministers
• Issued on: April 22, 2024