No money secreted out of Libya - Gaddafi jnr
2011-02-27 22:49
Washington - The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi denied on Sunday that his family had secreted billions of dollars out of the country, as he scornfully dismissed a UN vote calling for the freezing of Libyan assets.
First of all, we don't have money outside," said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, speaking to ABC television's This Week programme.
"We are a very modest family and everybody knows that. And we are laughing when they say you have money in Europe or Switzerland or something. Come on, it's a joke," he said, one day after the UN Security Council slapped a travel ban and assets freeze on Gaddafi and his inner circle.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution that also imposes an arms embargo on Libya, where the United Nations says more than 1 000 people have been killed, and condemns what it called violence incited "from the highest level" of the Libyan leadership.
But the younger Gaddafi insisted, despite daily television footage showing rioting, shooting and protests, that his country was calm and denied reports that the military had shot and killed hundreds, and possibly thousands of Libyans.
There is a "big big gap between reality and the media reports" Gaddafi said, according to an advance transcript of the interview provided by ABC television.
"The whole south is calm. The west is calm. The middle is calm. Even part of the east."
He also reiterated his father's defiant vow not to give up power.
"Listen: nobody is leaving this country. We live here, we die here," he insisted. "This is our country. The Libyans are our people. And for myself, I believe I am doing the right thing."
