Updated: St James Group 'sole investor' in clinic that US says has Ghaddafi interests

Updated at 3:37pm with St James clinic reaction

US embassy cables released by Wikileaks report that Dr Aisha Muammar Ghaddafi – daughter of Libyan leader Muammar al-Ghaddafi – is “reported to have financial interests in the private St. James Clinic of Tripoli”, the Libyan branch of the Maltese private hospital.

The clinic is described as “one of the two most trustworthy medical facilities that supplement the unreliable health care available through public facilities.

“In addition to health care management and referrals to hospitals to Malta and elsewhere in Europe, the clinic has an extensive aesthetic surgery practice.” 

St James Hospital however told The Times this afternoon that it was the sole investor in St James Clinic in Tripoli. St James Group chairman Josie Muscat said: "We are the sole investors in Libya. It would be interesting to know from where the correspondent got his information.”

The cable, with the subject ‘Qadhafi Incorporated’, says that while the Libyan leader often speaks out publicly against government corruption, “the politically-connected elite has direct access to lucrative business deals. This commercial access can easily be cut off when individuals fall out of favor.”

Aisha is a lawyer by profession and in July 2004 she joined the legal defence team of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The charity group Wa Attassimou that came out in defense of Muntadhar al-Zaidi, over the shoe-hurling incident against US president George W. Bush in Baghdad, is also led by Aisha.

The Ghaddafi family retains strong interests in the oil and gas sector, telecommunications, infrastructure development, hotels, media distribution, and consumer goods distribution. “All of the Qadhafi children and favorites are supposed to have income streams from the National Oil Company and oil services subsidiaries.”

“Since the family keeps a tight control on the media and most of the Qadhafi children spending excesses take place outside Libya, there is not much public reaction to the coffers of Qadhafi Inc.

"Compared to egregious pillaging of State coffers elsewhere in Africa, or the lavish spending of Gulf Arabs, the Libyans don’t see much to complain about in their leader’s lifestyle, as long as he does a good job of making sure other people get a piece of the pie. And when Libyans do complain, they are removed from access to financial rewards.”