Who controls the sovereign wealth fund that Col Qaddafi’s son, Seif, set up a few years ago? Most of it appears to sit in Libyan banks, beyond the reach of Western sanctions.

The fund’s nominal head is Muhammad H. Layas, perhaps Libya’s most experienced international banker. He has had a leadership role in institutions including the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank, the only bank allowed to conduct international business during the imposition of United Nations sanctions against Libya; British-Arab Commercial Bank, a London-based wholesale bank now majority owned by Libya; and the Arab Banking Corporation, a Bahrain-based bank also majority controlled by Libya.

But while he was the titular head, bankers who have had dealings with the fund say that the real power was wielded by Mustafa Zarti, a close friend of Mr. Qaddafi whose title is deputy chief executive.

Brash and with an “in-your-face” style, according to people who dealt with him, Mr. Zarti went to school with Mr. Qaddafi in Austria. He is also his partner in a tuna farming enterprise, R. H. Marine Services, on the west coast of Libya.

Bankers who dealt with Mr. Zarti said he fancied himself quite a deal maker — very much taken with glossy Wall Street names like Goldman Sachs — and was known for his impulsive and unsuccessful investment decisions, like investing in Royal Bank of Scotland before it was bailed out.

We especially liked this part: “People who worked closely with the fund said that its inner workings were largely a mystery as bureaucratic inertia and lack of investment expertise kept it from being more active.”

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 8:00 pm.