‘Nigeria wastes N50b yearly on fake products’
THE proposed investigation by the House of Representatives into a revenue facilitation concession agreement between the Federal Government and a firm, Single Window System, failed to hold yesterday.
The probe was ordered by the House last July after adopting a motion sponsored by a member, Dogara Yakubu, in which it was claimed that Nigeria would lose some $30 billion as a result of the replacement of the single window system firms by a new one called Single Window System and Technology Limited (SWST). But lack of appropriate document practically halted the conduct of the investigative hearing which was to begin yesterday and last for five days.
Meanwhile, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said Nigeria may be losing over N50 billion yearly to the importation of sub-standard products.
Exactly four years ago, the same House of Representatives conducted an inconclusive investigation into alleged $16 billion power expenditure fraud between 1999 and 2007.
The drama started yesterday immediately after Speaker Aminu Tambuwal declared the public investigative hearing opened.
The exercise was to begin in earnest when the Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the alleged irregularities in the concession agreement between the Finance Ministry and the revenue facilitation company, SWST, announced its inability to get the required documents to sustain the investigation.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee and Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives, Leo Ogor, then said: “This public hearing cannot continue as planned because the document we expected from the Ministry of Finance could not be obtained. The Ministry of Finance as the main hob in the agreement was not able to make the required document available. This public hearing has to be put off until Monday when we expect that the document would be available.”
Other stakeholders in the probe expressed dismay that the Ogor-led committee could not obtain independently, the document, instead depended on the ministry which it was set up to investigate.
Ogor, in defence of the committee, stated that the panel was trying to be fair by asking the ministry to submit documents.
In his speech earlier, Tambuwal explained the essence of the investigation, saying: “This legislative inquiry is in line with the transformation agenda and anti-corruption campaign of the Federal Government of Nigeria and responds directly to the yearnings of our people. This House fully subscribes to the transformation agenda of Mr. President and realises that the promises of transformation may not be realised if the nation’s financial base is weak. Therefore, ensuring optimal revenue earnings from our public assets is a sine qua non to the success of Mr. President’s transformation agenda.”
According to the Speaker, “the objectives of this public hearing include – to determine the due process credentials of all activities leading up to the concession and the management of the concession thereafter in the areas of:
• Compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations;
• Procurement of requisite approvals, permits and consents;
• Compliance with the principles of openness, fairness, economy, efficiency, among others, in dealing with public assets; and
• Conformity with global benchmark practices for similar transactions.
The Dogara motion had claimed that the country stood to lose over $30 billion.
It said: “For the next 15 to 20 years, Single Window Systems and Technology Limited, a company which allegedly lack official address, will operate a new National Single Window (NSW) platform - a crucial technology-based import and export documentation services, which already exists and for which the government has spent N300 billion.”
Lawmakers alleged that the job of revenue facilitation is primarily that of the Nigeria Customs Service but was given to the firm in a non-transparent process that totally breached procurement rules, and would tremendously hurt the economy.
“When we start taxing exports for our kind of economy, it will kill manufacturing and destroy jobs,” Dogara said.
The Guardian learnt that “the Single Window System is a trade facilitation idea which enables international (cross-border) traders to submit regulatory documents at a single location and/or single entity. Such documents are typically Customs declarations, applications for import/export permits, and other supporting documents such as certificates of origin and trading invoices.
“The main value proposition for having a Single Window for a country or economy is to increase the efficiency through time and cost savings for traders in their dealings with various government authorities for obtaining the relevant clearance and permit(s) for moving cargoes across national or economic borders.”
In essence, it is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria had said that over 90 per cent of contents of containers seized at the nation’s seaports has been identified to be fake and adulterated goods. Their market value is put at N200 billion. Fake spare parts top the list with a market value of over N20 billion.
Other sub-standard goods reportedly imported from Dubai, China and other Asian countries include electronics, assorted baby milk, tyres, cigarettes, helmets, generators, pressure vessels, gas tanks and cylinders and dry cell lithium vehicle batteries.
The Director, SON, Charles Okoro, told The Guardian at the weekend that the country is presently wasting its resources through destruction of substandard products.
He said that it would take the efforts of the government, importers and consumers to put an end to the influx and patronage of substandard products in the country.
Representing the Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu at Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies (AES) Excellence Club’s monthly business luncheon at the weekend in Lagos, Okoro said SON is committed to its standardisation policy as part of the strategies aimed at ensuring and promoting competitiveness of made-in-Nigeria products.
In a paper titled: “Positioning Nigerian goods and services for global competitiveness”, he stressed that it is in the best interest of the country for standards to be maintained at the levels of production of goods and materials used by the populace.
According to him, as part of the reforms the present administration is prosecuting to make life meaningful for the citizens, the Council and Management of SON have resolved not to relent in their efforts of maintaining standards of goods produced in the country, hence the introduction of Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP).
Okoro disclosed that the certificate is also aimed at protecting consumers from locally-manufactured sub-standard products, which do not meet the minimum requirements of relevant Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS), thereby generating confidence that made-in-Nigeria products could provide value for money.
He maintained that MANCAP was also designed to protect genuine manufacturers against unhealthy trade practices, counterfeiting and unfair competition in the market place and to encourage investment. He urged the award recipient to continue to maintain standards as the certificate could be withdrawn if the company deviates from laid down standards.
THE proposed investigation by the House of Representatives into a revenue facilitation concession agreement between the Federal Government and a firm, Single Window System, failed to hold yesterday.
The probe was ordered by the House last July after adopting a motion sponsored by a member, Dogara Yakubu, in which it was claimed that Nigeria would lose some $30 billion as a result of the replacement of the single window system firms by a new one called Single Window System and Technology Limited (SWST). But lack of appropriate document practically halted the conduct of the investigative hearing which was to begin yesterday and last for five days.
Meanwhile, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said Nigeria may be losing over N50 billion yearly to the importation of sub-standard products.
Exactly four years ago, the same House of Representatives conducted an inconclusive investigation into alleged $16 billion power expenditure fraud between 1999 and 2007.
The drama started yesterday immediately after Speaker Aminu Tambuwal declared the public investigative hearing opened.
The exercise was to begin in earnest when the Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the alleged irregularities in the concession agreement between the Finance Ministry and the revenue facilitation company, SWST, announced its inability to get the required documents to sustain the investigation.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee and Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives, Leo Ogor, then said: “This public hearing cannot continue as planned because the document we expected from the Ministry of Finance could not be obtained. The Ministry of Finance as the main hob in the agreement was not able to make the required document available. This public hearing has to be put off until Monday when we expect that the document would be available.”
Other stakeholders in the probe expressed dismay that the Ogor-led committee could not obtain independently, the document, instead depended on the ministry which it was set up to investigate.
Ogor, in defence of the committee, stated that the panel was trying to be fair by asking the ministry to submit documents.
In his speech earlier, Tambuwal explained the essence of the investigation, saying: “This legislative inquiry is in line with the transformation agenda and anti-corruption campaign of the Federal Government of Nigeria and responds directly to the yearnings of our people. This House fully subscribes to the transformation agenda of Mr. President and realises that the promises of transformation may not be realised if the nation’s financial base is weak. Therefore, ensuring optimal revenue earnings from our public assets is a sine qua non to the success of Mr. President’s transformation agenda.”
According to the Speaker, “the objectives of this public hearing include – to determine the due process credentials of all activities leading up to the concession and the management of the concession thereafter in the areas of:
• Compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations;
• Procurement of requisite approvals, permits and consents;
• Compliance with the principles of openness, fairness, economy, efficiency, among others, in dealing with public assets; and
• Conformity with global benchmark practices for similar transactions.
The Dogara motion had claimed that the country stood to lose over $30 billion.
It said: “For the next 15 to 20 years, Single Window Systems and Technology Limited, a company which allegedly lack official address, will operate a new National Single Window (NSW) platform - a crucial technology-based import and export documentation services, which already exists and for which the government has spent N300 billion.”
Lawmakers alleged that the job of revenue facilitation is primarily that of the Nigeria Customs Service but was given to the firm in a non-transparent process that totally breached procurement rules, and would tremendously hurt the economy.
“When we start taxing exports for our kind of economy, it will kill manufacturing and destroy jobs,” Dogara said.
The Guardian learnt that “the Single Window System is a trade facilitation idea which enables international (cross-border) traders to submit regulatory documents at a single location and/or single entity. Such documents are typically Customs declarations, applications for import/export permits, and other supporting documents such as certificates of origin and trading invoices.
“The main value proposition for having a Single Window for a country or economy is to increase the efficiency through time and cost savings for traders in their dealings with various government authorities for obtaining the relevant clearance and permit(s) for moving cargoes across national or economic borders.”
In essence, it is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria had said that over 90 per cent of contents of containers seized at the nation’s seaports has been identified to be fake and adulterated goods. Their market value is put at N200 billion. Fake spare parts top the list with a market value of over N20 billion.
Other sub-standard goods reportedly imported from Dubai, China and other Asian countries include electronics, assorted baby milk, tyres, cigarettes, helmets, generators, pressure vessels, gas tanks and cylinders and dry cell lithium vehicle batteries.
The Director, SON, Charles Okoro, told The Guardian at the weekend that the country is presently wasting its resources through destruction of substandard products.
He said that it would take the efforts of the government, importers and consumers to put an end to the influx and patronage of substandard products in the country.
Representing the Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu at Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies (AES) Excellence Club’s monthly business luncheon at the weekend in Lagos, Okoro said SON is committed to its standardisation policy as part of the strategies aimed at ensuring and promoting competitiveness of made-in-Nigeria products.
In a paper titled: “Positioning Nigerian goods and services for global competitiveness”, he stressed that it is in the best interest of the country for standards to be maintained at the levels of production of goods and materials used by the populace.
According to him, as part of the reforms the present administration is prosecuting to make life meaningful for the citizens, the Council and Management of SON have resolved not to relent in their efforts of maintaining standards of goods produced in the country, hence the introduction of Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP).
Okoro disclosed that the certificate is also aimed at protecting consumers from locally-manufactured sub-standard products, which do not meet the minimum requirements of relevant Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS), thereby generating confidence that made-in-Nigeria products could provide value for money.
He maintained that MANCAP was also designed to protect genuine manufacturers against unhealthy trade practices, counterfeiting and unfair competition in the market place and to encourage investment. He urged the award recipient to continue to maintain standards as the certificate could be withdrawn if the company deviates from laid down standards.
Community accuses troops of collusion, seeks removal
THE fresh orgy of violence in Plateau State, which began last week, continued on Sunday night as 11 people were killed in two different locations.
Seven people were hacked to death at Zakaleu near Babale in Targon District of Jos North Local Council of the state while in Kuru, Jos South Local Council, four people were killed on the same night.
Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, led journalists to the two venues to see the casualties.
The women at Kuru protested, saying that the attacks were made possible by the soldiers of the Special Task Force (STF) and had therefore blocked the road to the area.
The STF soldiers who came in three Hilux Vans started packing their belongings in the area as the Kuru villagers said they no longer needed them. Also, they said they no longer wanted to see journalists and government officials in their area as government had failed woefully in its responsibility of protecting their lives and property.
At Babale where seven people were killed, three people who were seriously injured are currently on admission at Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos receiving treatment while five houses with mostly thatched roofs were burnt to ashes. The area was exclusively inhabited by the Anagutas of Jos North Local Council.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of Jos North Local Council, Mr. Timothy Buba, told journalists that Babale area had been a very peaceful community, which could not antagonise anybody.
According to Buba, “at about 9.00 p.m., some people invaded the community while some of the residents were sleeping. Seven lives were lost. Some were burnt and three others are now in the hospital. The way and manner the attack was carried out was amazing because it baffles and beats everybody’s imagination because the military checkpoint is close and the military were there and they did not respond.
“The people and the houses were set on fire and even from the distance, you can see some smoke. Some of the residents said they called the soldiers at the checkpoint on phone because they have their numbers but they refused to respond and remained on the Jos-Bauchi highway. When the military flashed their torchlights at the attackers, the attackers flashed their torchlights back and then the military left. So it is very amazing. We were calling on the authorities to investigate the military personnel on the highways here. We have their names and numbers.”
Buba continued: “There is a sector commander of the STF here. He should be called and held responsible because something like this cannot happen without the military responding. It is very amazing. I am calling on the STF Commander and General Officer Commanding (GOC) to call the Sector Commander to order. They were alerted but they did not respond. But I want to use this opportunity to say that we in Jos North are tired of this nonsense. We want peace. I believe that the attack was carried out with the sole aim that the people of this community would retaliate and stage a reprisal attack and the crisis will persist. This attack was done purposely to provoke further crises because if the people here who lost loved ones want to retaliate, there would be reprisal attacks without end.
“So, in my opinion, the people who did this did it because they believed there would be a reprisal attack and the crisis would continue. Now, the question is, who wants this to continue? Is anybody benefiting? This is because the way it was carried out with precision and execution unlike the usual communal crisis, it was carried out with professional manner. People who are behind this are professionals. You could see their footmarks on the ground. They wore military boots and expended military ammunition. We want the military authorities to check the activities of the soldiers they post to this area.”
Buba further told journalists that the attackers came in three vans which they parked on the highway and entered the area by foot, adding that when the military came in their Hilux Vans, “all they did was to flash their lights without coming in and they went back. People were under attack and the military could not come in. Now, what the military is saying is that we should embark on self-help and what is called self-help is that we should look for means of defending ourselves and the crisis will not end. It will keep perpetuating.”
In his comment, Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development from the area, Mr. James Yakubu, said that the community was peaceful and that it did not antagonise anybody.
He said: “The people that were massacred today are my people. It is very unfortunate that when the people of the community called on the military that were expected to protect us, their response was that they ‘don’t have fuel in their vehicles’. Honestly, it is very disheartening. We just want to plead with our people to take it easy. What happened was professionally done and we don’t want to blame it on any group. From here, we are going to see the commissioner of police and thereafter brief the deputy governor.
“Why we are saying that we need the exit of the armed forces is that people wear these uniforms and go and commit crimes. When these uniforms are taken away from the streets, then we can monitor who will wear the uniform again. If the military now goes back to the barracks, we will now monitor the new development with the new security outfit, Operation Rainbow. Nobody is accusing the military that they are the ones doing this or not, we are saying that if they go back to their barracks and we see anybody coming back to attack, we will know our enemies. It is something to look into seriously and checkmate.”
Yakubu in another breath, expressed gratitude to the military, saying that they should just move back a little bit. He advised the people not to take the laws into their own hands.
The commissioner for information at the end of the tour told journalists that any action that involved taking human life should be condemned.
According to Yiljap, every lover of the human race should rise in condemnation of what just happened in the community.
“The perpetrators of this dastardly act will be caught. No matter how long it is, we will catch them. I am appealing to the people of Plateau State that wherever we are, we should rise in unison in condemnation of the act and make sure that whatever is the plan of enemies of the state, we should make sure it does not come to pass,” he said.
The President spoke whil... 
FROM the World Bank has come admonition that African countries should encourage local investment as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) alone will not delive...
THE fresh orgy of violence in Plateau State, which began last week, continued on Sunday night as 11 people were killed in two different locations.
Seven people were hacked to death at Zakaleu near Babale in Targon District of Jos North Local Council of the state while in Kuru, Jos South Local Council, four people were killed on the same night.
Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, led journalists to the two venues to see the casualties.
The women at Kuru protested, saying that the attacks were made possible by the soldiers of the Special Task Force (STF) and had therefore blocked the road to the area.
The STF soldiers who came in three Hilux Vans started packing their belongings in the area as the Kuru villagers said they no longer needed them. Also, they said they no longer wanted to see journalists and government officials in their area as government had failed woefully in its responsibility of protecting their lives and property.
At Babale where seven people were killed, three people who were seriously injured are currently on admission at Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos receiving treatment while five houses with mostly thatched roofs were burnt to ashes. The area was exclusively inhabited by the Anagutas of Jos North Local Council.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of Jos North Local Council, Mr. Timothy Buba, told journalists that Babale area had been a very peaceful community, which could not antagonise anybody.
According to Buba, “at about 9.00 p.m., some people invaded the community while some of the residents were sleeping. Seven lives were lost. Some were burnt and three others are now in the hospital. The way and manner the attack was carried out was amazing because it baffles and beats everybody’s imagination because the military checkpoint is close and the military were there and they did not respond.
“The people and the houses were set on fire and even from the distance, you can see some smoke. Some of the residents said they called the soldiers at the checkpoint on phone because they have their numbers but they refused to respond and remained on the Jos-Bauchi highway. When the military flashed their torchlights at the attackers, the attackers flashed their torchlights back and then the military left. So it is very amazing. We were calling on the authorities to investigate the military personnel on the highways here. We have their names and numbers.”
Buba continued: “There is a sector commander of the STF here. He should be called and held responsible because something like this cannot happen without the military responding. It is very amazing. I am calling on the STF Commander and General Officer Commanding (GOC) to call the Sector Commander to order. They were alerted but they did not respond. But I want to use this opportunity to say that we in Jos North are tired of this nonsense. We want peace. I believe that the attack was carried out with the sole aim that the people of this community would retaliate and stage a reprisal attack and the crisis will persist. This attack was done purposely to provoke further crises because if the people here who lost loved ones want to retaliate, there would be reprisal attacks without end.
“So, in my opinion, the people who did this did it because they believed there would be a reprisal attack and the crisis would continue. Now, the question is, who wants this to continue? Is anybody benefiting? This is because the way it was carried out with precision and execution unlike the usual communal crisis, it was carried out with professional manner. People who are behind this are professionals. You could see their footmarks on the ground. They wore military boots and expended military ammunition. We want the military authorities to check the activities of the soldiers they post to this area.”
Buba further told journalists that the attackers came in three vans which they parked on the highway and entered the area by foot, adding that when the military came in their Hilux Vans, “all they did was to flash their lights without coming in and they went back. People were under attack and the military could not come in. Now, what the military is saying is that we should embark on self-help and what is called self-help is that we should look for means of defending ourselves and the crisis will not end. It will keep perpetuating.”
In his comment, Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development from the area, Mr. James Yakubu, said that the community was peaceful and that it did not antagonise anybody.
He said: “The people that were massacred today are my people. It is very unfortunate that when the people of the community called on the military that were expected to protect us, their response was that they ‘don’t have fuel in their vehicles’. Honestly, it is very disheartening. We just want to plead with our people to take it easy. What happened was professionally done and we don’t want to blame it on any group. From here, we are going to see the commissioner of police and thereafter brief the deputy governor.
“Why we are saying that we need the exit of the armed forces is that people wear these uniforms and go and commit crimes. When these uniforms are taken away from the streets, then we can monitor who will wear the uniform again. If the military now goes back to the barracks, we will now monitor the new development with the new security outfit, Operation Rainbow. Nobody is accusing the military that they are the ones doing this or not, we are saying that if they go back to their barracks and we see anybody coming back to attack, we will know our enemies. It is something to look into seriously and checkmate.”
Yakubu in another breath, expressed gratitude to the military, saying that they should just move back a little bit. He advised the people not to take the laws into their own hands.
The commissioner for information at the end of the tour told journalists that any action that involved taking human life should be condemned.
According to Yiljap, every lover of the human race should rise in condemnation of what just happened in the community.
“The perpetrators of this dastardly act will be caught. No matter how long it is, we will catch them. I am appealing to the people of Plateau State that wherever we are, we should rise in unison in condemnation of the act and make sure that whatever is the plan of enemies of the state, we should make sure it does not come to pass,” he said.
THE commander of anti-government forces in Tripoli, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, has demanded an apology from Britain and the United States (U.S.) for his transfer to a prison in Libya in 2004 and torture after being arrested in Bangkok.
This is coming as the Libyan National Transition Council (NTC) declared that the collapse of peace talks meant a military assault on Bani Walid and other strongholds of Muammar Gaddafi appeared imminent.
The town of Bani Walid is thought to have had no electricity or water for a week. Food is running low and Gaddafi’s loyalists are firing in the streets.
Rebels have surrounded the town, one of the last in Libya that remains in the deposed leader’s grip. However, rebels claim their priority is bringing emergency relief to the population.
In a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Belhaj said he was taken to Libya by CIA and MI6 in an operation in 2004 after his arrest as a terror suspect. He also alleged documents sent to Gaddafi’s regime confirmed his claim.
Evidence that British intelligence agencies mounted their own “rendition” operation in collaboration with Gaddafi‘s security services has emerged with the discovery of a cache of Libyan government papers in an abandoned office building in Tripoli.
Other papers found in the building suggest MI6 enjoyed a far closer working relationship with Gaddafi’s intelligence agencies than has been publicly known, and was involved in a number of U.S.-led operations that also resulted in Islamists being consigned to Gaddafi’s prisons.
The papers were discovered by staff of Human Rights Watch, the New York-based NGO, in the unmarked offices of Libya’s external security agency. A number of the documents detail meetings between the British and Libyans during the period of rapprochement that followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when Gaddafi was being persuaded to abandon his nuclear weapons programme.
Meanwhile, China’s government has admitted that Chinese arms manufacturers held talks as recently as July with representatives of Gaddafi’s government who were seeking arms and ammunition as his forces battled rebels.
The meetings happened in China while a UN ban on such sales was in place. But China’s Foreign Ministry has insisted that no actual weapons were supplied to Libya.
Though the British Foreign Office said the government had a “long-standing policy” not to comment on intelligence matters, the allegations that MI6 was involved in the rendition of Libyan terror suspects should be examined by an independent inquiry.
Earlier in the day, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said that the existing Detainee Inquiry into rendition was “well placed” to investigate the allegations reported in recent days.
“It’s not clear precisely what the allegations amount to,” the spokesman added. “We don’t have a clear picture from these documents, which is precisely why an inquiry like the (Detainee) inquiry might be well placed to consider the issue.”
However, another statement from the Detainee Inquiry, to be chaired by Sir Peter Gibson, said that as part of its role of examining the extent of the government’s involvement in, or awareness of, improper treatment of detainees, it would “therefore, of course, be considering these allegations of UK involvement in rendition to Libya as part of our work.”
Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, said: “These further allegations must be fully investigated by the Gibson inquiry. David Cameron was right to set this up. The inquiry itself must demonstrate that it is up to the job.
“Unfortunately, Sir Peter Gibson’s early decisions - not to appoint an investigator, not to look at detainee transfer in theatre, not to sufficiently engage with the victims - do not inspire public confidence.”
But Belhaj told the BBC: “What happened to me and my family is illegal. It deserves an apology. And for what happened to me when I was captured and tortured.
“For all these illegal things, starting with the information given to Libyan security, the interrogation in Bangkok.”
The documents backing Belhaj’s claims were discovered in an abandoned office building in Tripoli by staff from Human Rights Watch.
Belhaj said that MI6 and the CIA did not witness his torture at the hands of the former Libyan regime, but did interview him afterwards.
Sir Mark Allen, formerly MI6’s director of counter-terrorism, has been reported to be the author of a letter to Moussa Koussa, thanking him for a “delicious” gift of dates and oranges, which was found among the recovered documents.
Koussa served for years as embattled Muammar Gaddafi’s spy chief before becoming foreign minister. He defected in the early part of the rebellion, flying to the UK and then on to Qatar.
Rights groups have long accused him of involvement in atrocities, and had called on the UK to arrest him at the time.
This is coming as the Libyan National Transition Council (NTC) declared that the collapse of peace talks meant a military assault on Bani Walid and other strongholds of Muammar Gaddafi appeared imminent.
The town of Bani Walid is thought to have had no electricity or water for a week. Food is running low and Gaddafi’s loyalists are firing in the streets.
Rebels have surrounded the town, one of the last in Libya that remains in the deposed leader’s grip. However, rebels claim their priority is bringing emergency relief to the population.
In a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Belhaj said he was taken to Libya by CIA and MI6 in an operation in 2004 after his arrest as a terror suspect. He also alleged documents sent to Gaddafi’s regime confirmed his claim.
Evidence that British intelligence agencies mounted their own “rendition” operation in collaboration with Gaddafi‘s security services has emerged with the discovery of a cache of Libyan government papers in an abandoned office building in Tripoli.
Other papers found in the building suggest MI6 enjoyed a far closer working relationship with Gaddafi’s intelligence agencies than has been publicly known, and was involved in a number of U.S.-led operations that also resulted in Islamists being consigned to Gaddafi’s prisons.
The papers were discovered by staff of Human Rights Watch, the New York-based NGO, in the unmarked offices of Libya’s external security agency. A number of the documents detail meetings between the British and Libyans during the period of rapprochement that followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when Gaddafi was being persuaded to abandon his nuclear weapons programme.
Meanwhile, China’s government has admitted that Chinese arms manufacturers held talks as recently as July with representatives of Gaddafi’s government who were seeking arms and ammunition as his forces battled rebels.
The meetings happened in China while a UN ban on such sales was in place. But China’s Foreign Ministry has insisted that no actual weapons were supplied to Libya.
Though the British Foreign Office said the government had a “long-standing policy” not to comment on intelligence matters, the allegations that MI6 was involved in the rendition of Libyan terror suspects should be examined by an independent inquiry.
Earlier in the day, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said that the existing Detainee Inquiry into rendition was “well placed” to investigate the allegations reported in recent days.
“It’s not clear precisely what the allegations amount to,” the spokesman added. “We don’t have a clear picture from these documents, which is precisely why an inquiry like the (Detainee) inquiry might be well placed to consider the issue.”
However, another statement from the Detainee Inquiry, to be chaired by Sir Peter Gibson, said that as part of its role of examining the extent of the government’s involvement in, or awareness of, improper treatment of detainees, it would “therefore, of course, be considering these allegations of UK involvement in rendition to Libya as part of our work.”
Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, said: “These further allegations must be fully investigated by the Gibson inquiry. David Cameron was right to set this up. The inquiry itself must demonstrate that it is up to the job.
“Unfortunately, Sir Peter Gibson’s early decisions - not to appoint an investigator, not to look at detainee transfer in theatre, not to sufficiently engage with the victims - do not inspire public confidence.”
But Belhaj told the BBC: “What happened to me and my family is illegal. It deserves an apology. And for what happened to me when I was captured and tortured.
“For all these illegal things, starting with the information given to Libyan security, the interrogation in Bangkok.”
The documents backing Belhaj’s claims were discovered in an abandoned office building in Tripoli by staff from Human Rights Watch.
Belhaj said that MI6 and the CIA did not witness his torture at the hands of the former Libyan regime, but did interview him afterwards.
Sir Mark Allen, formerly MI6’s director of counter-terrorism, has been reported to be the author of a letter to Moussa Koussa, thanking him for a “delicious” gift of dates and oranges, which was found among the recovered documents.
Koussa served for years as embattled Muammar Gaddafi’s spy chief before becoming foreign minister. He defected in the early part of the rebellion, flying to the UK and then on to Qatar.
Rights groups have long accused him of involvement in atrocities, and had called on the UK to arrest him at the time.
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