Gaddafi-ira victims should be compensated, say MPS
VICTIMS of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons should be compensated from frozen Libyan assets, a new MPS’ report says.
The Government is failing to “adequately support victims of Gaddafisponsored IRA terrorism in the United Kingdom”, according to the Northern Ireland affairs committee, which criticises the Treasury for refusing to say where taxes on frozen Libyan assets have gone.
Campaigners say more than 3,000 family members and survivors of IRA attacks are eligible for financial compensation.
The report says that Libyan assets worth over £12billion have been frozen in Britain since a 2011 ruling by the United Nations Security Council.
Whilst the assets themselves cannot be touched, questions have been asked about whether the Capital Gains Tax accrued by the investments – which goes to the Government – could compensate victims.
However, the Government says that HMRC has a duty of confidentiality to the owners and “is not able to release information on the amount of tax collected” from assets.
The committee rejected this assertion and demanded that the Government explain why the money has not been spent on victims.
The Telegraph reported in 2015 how the Us-libya claims settlement agreement, thought to have been brokered by Tony Blair, compensated US victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism. The parliamentary inquiry was started after The Telegraph broke the story.
In the settlement, $10 million (£7.7million) was agreed for each death and $3million (£2.3million) for each injured person. British victims were not included in the deal and successive governments have not explained why.
Matthew Jury, of Mccue and Partners, the law firm representing almost 200 British victims, said: “The Government are delaying and deflecting the entire time.
“The victims, not unreasonably, believe the Government are just waiting for them to die. A lot of them are entering their later years and once they go the Government hopes the problem goes with it.”