How Italy issued honorary citizenship to Gaddafi Oil Minster and Former PM

It has been reported that Gaddafi has tightened his grip on his ministers following the defection of former Libyan Minister Mousa Kousa.

“I really cannot answer the question about Ghanem being in possession of an Italian passport,” was the curt reply from a very senior official at the Farnesina, Rome’s foreign office.

But further investigations by MalaToday revealed how sanction-hit Ghanem has been granted an Italian passport, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet approved the proposal by interior minister Roberto Maroni in December 2008. This can be confirmed by a simple search on Google.

Ghanem is known to be very close to Italy’s energy giant ENI Corporation chairman Paolo Scaroni, to the extent that even when faced by allied strikes, he confirmed that Libya would honour its contracts with ENI.

Ghanem is also the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), ENI’s main interlocutor in the country.

Libya’s oil minister Shokri Ghanem has every reason to regret not seizing the opportunity to  defect when he had the chance two weeks ago, when he secretly escaped to to Tunisia and crossed paths with Moussa Koussa, who fled to the United Kingdom.

As the news on Koussa’s defection was out, Ghanem was quickly driven back to Tripoli through the Ras Jedir border in a bid to deny reports on his defection.

Seated on the backseat of his diplomatic plated Mercedes 500 outside a prominent Djerba hotel, Ghanem held a hand close to his breast pocket where he jealously guarded a forgotten secret: an Italian passport granted to him by Silvio Berlusconi’s government in 2008.

That passport would have granted him access to any European airport.

According to intelligence services who have since swarmed all over Djerba, being the closest airport to the Western Libyan border, Ghanem considered the consequences to his family if he fled.

The passport he held in his pocket was the one he never told Col. Ghaddafi about, even though he served him as Prime Minister and subsequently as his oil minister and head of all oil resources in the country.

A passport to Ghanem was in Italy’s interest, as it secured lucrative presence in Libya and the consolidation of ENI in Libya.

Gaddafi is said to have been livid to learn that Ghanem was granted “honorary citizenship” by Italy, little knowing that this also came with a passport. Gaddafi has since ordered the confiscation of the Italian passport.

Because of his closeness to Seif al-Islam – Gaddafi’s second born son – Ghanem managed to patch things up with the Colonel, who had sidelined him for some time.

Seif’s brothers too were angry at Ghanem. They understood that the special relationship between Seif and Ghanem came in the name of millions of dollars. Seif was garnering the lion’s share  of all oil contracts Ghanem would sign for.

Italy’s foreign ministry struggled to reply to questions by MaltaToday when asked to confirm or deny reports that Libya’s oil minister Skokri Ghanem held an Italian passport.

“I really cannot answer the question about Ghanem being in possession of an Italian passport,” was the curt reply from a very senior official at the Farnesina, Rome’s foreign office.

But further investigations by this paper revealed how US sanction-hit Ghanem has been granted an Italian passport, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet approved the proposal by interior minister Roberto Maroni in December 2008.

Honorary citizenship was granted to Ghanem “for special merits and eminent services rendered to Italy.”

Ghanem is known to be very close to Italy’s energy giant ENI Corporation chairman Paolo Scaroni, to the extent that even when faced by allied strikes, he confirmed that Libya would honour its contracts with ENI.

Ghanem is also the head of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), ENI’s main interlocutor in the country.

But as the world continued to isolate Gaddafi and his regime, Italy surprisingly turned its back on the Colonel and in a bid to safeguard its energy interests, also dumped Ghanem.

As foreign minister Franco Frattini this week announced that Rome was now formally recognising the Benghazi-led Transitional Council as the only interlocutor in Libya, Scaroni was immediately on the phone with Benghazi to secure energy contracts in the oil rich city.

Rome also immediately dispatched a C-130 aircraft laden with medical supplies to Benghazi, while it was also deploying a hospital ship via Malta to the besieged city of Misurata.

The President of the Libyan Transitional Council Mousatafa Jalil is also expected in Rome for an official visit next Tuesday.