Libya seeking to recover Gaddafi riches in South Africa

Libya has called on the South African government to help it recover more than $1 billion in diamonds, gold and cash allegedly stashed in the country by slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, a local newspaper reported on Sunday. The Sunday Times newspaper said Libyan investigators had approached the Treasury with evidence that the assets were being held by four South African banks and two local security companies. "The process of verifying the group's claim is underway," Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane was quoted as saying. The newspaper published extracts of letters from Libya's justice and finance ministers to their South African counterparts seeking help in finding Kadhafi-linked assets which might have been "illegally possessed, obtained, looted, deposited or hidden in South Africa". South Africa was opposed to NATO's military intervention in Libya during the rebel uprising against Kadhafi's regime. The veteran leader was captured and killed in October 2011 while he was trying to flee his home town of Sirte, the last major city to fall to the rebels.