Libya Didn’t Buy Al-Senussi; It Simply Made a Donation to Mauritania!

I’ve been catching up on the lastest filings regarding Libya’s complementarity challenges, and I’ll have a post tomorrow about some shocking admissions by Libya concerning its planned domestic prosecution of Saif Gaddafi.  But I would be remiss if I didn’t point out now that Libya is denying — in writing, but apparently with a straight face — that it paid Mauritania $200,000,000 to extradite al-Senussi:

Serious evidential issues apply to Mr. Al-Senussi’s manifestly unsubstantiated allegations that Libya incited or provided “aid and assistance” to a violation of Resolution 1970 by Mauritania through the offer and payment of a sum of money in return for receipt of Mr. Al-Senussi. As outlined in Mr Al-Senussi’s Application, Libyan Government records establish that the payment of 250 million dinars to Mauritania which was approved by the Libyan General National Congress and recorded in a GNC Decision of 14 November 2012 (ie. more than 70 days following the extradition of Mr Al-Senussi to Libya from Mauritania), was made by way of bilateral aid “as a donation to the Mauritanian people”. Indeed, the former Libyan Deputy Prime Minister, Mostafa Abu Shagur, who was in office at the time of Mr Al-Senussi’s extradition, has confirmed that the payment made was consistent with Libya’s many other investments in Mauritania and was made specifically in order to assist the Mauritanian economy.

See?  The $200,000,000 wasn’t a bribe.  It was merely a good-hearted “donation to the Mauritanian people” from the generous and compassionate Libyan government.

If the ICC judges buy that, I have a nice bridge they might be interested in…