A Libyan court has sentenced Finance Minister Al Ajili Brini to a one-year term and 46 other officials to between one and 19 years in prison for corruption, reports said.
Brini was found guilty of "negligence in carrying out his duties,” said the special state “People’s Court” in Benghazi, which had studied the case for more than a year.
The charges stemmed from the misappropriation of public funds based on evidence that implicated 51 officials.
The case involved 600 million Libyan dinars embezzled by the convicted officials, said the reports.
A former finance minister, Mohammad Abdallah Beit Al Mal, was sentenced to three years in prison for "negligence" and the current government head of planning, Tahar Jehimi, was sentenced to one year in prison, according to AFP.
Most of them were jailed for stealing funds meant for Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya.
Four others were acquitted by the court and another 40 were given varying prison terms and fined around 500,000 Libyan dinars ($1.5 million each), said the agency.
The court investigated the affair after Libya's central bank discovered an accumulation of assets in the Benghazi branch of the finance ministry.
Following the verdict, the court announced it was ready to tackle further corruption cases.
"Society will not renounce its right to pursue those not present today before the court, who have taken the wealth of the Libyan people and deposited it in domestic and foreign bank accounts," the court said – Albawaba.com
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