Libya: Freezing of Assets
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how she plans to allocate the accruing interest on the assets of the previous Libyan regime.
Answered by Emma Reynolds
Interest accrued on frozen assets is still subject to an asset freeze to be frozen immediately by the person in possession or control of them, but there is no change in ownership of the frozen funds or economic resources, and they are not transferred to HM Treasury.
The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury published in its 2023-2024 Annual Review that £13.4 billion in assets relating to the Libya sanctions regime have been reported as frozen as of September 2023.
As there is no obligation for a relevant institution to inform OFSI when it has credited interest to a frozen account, OFSI does not hold this information.
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