Maltese Court clears man tied to Haftar of smuggling mercenaries

The Times of Malta reported Wednesday that James Fenech, the owner of a charter company that gave military-grade inflatable boats to Khalifa Haftar’s contractors, has been cleared of violating EU sanctions on Libya.

The newspaper said the boats did not feature among the “very limited” list of prohibited goods, a Maltese court declared on Tuesday.

Fenech, the sole director of Sovereign Charterers Limited, and his employees were charged previously with violating an EU regulation prohibiting the sale, supply, transfer or export of equipment “to any person, entity or body in Libya or for use in Libya” which might be used for “internal repression”.

The newspaper added that investigations led to charges being issued against Fenech and his four employees who had been involved in ferrying the boats to Libya in terms of a charter party agreement signed between Sovereign Capital and Opus Capital.

“All five were charged with breaching article 4 of the National Interest (Enabling Powers) Act, meaning they were charged with violating an European Council regulation on restrictive measures related to the situation in Libya.” The newspaper said, adding that they had denied the charges.