http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8353216/Dictators-and-their-sons-Col-Gaddafis-billionaire-children.htmlDictators and their sons: Col Gaddafi's billionaire children
Even as their father proclaimed he was building a classless state built on socialist and Islamic principles, Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's and his children built vast fortunes in sectors from hostels to oil.
Britain has announced that the assets of the dictator and his family have been frozen, and the Treasury has created a special unit to trace the multi-billion pound assets they are thought to have squirrelled away in investments in the city. For years, though, that fortune helped the Gaddafi family win friends and influence across the world.
Saif al-Islam, the suave, western-educated second son of the Libyan dictator, was the best known of the sons.
Seen as the natural successor to his father before the wave of protests across the north African nation, the 38 year old Saif al-Islam presented himself as a reformer. He was welcomed in the West as the acceptable face of the regime, and claims the Duke of York, Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair among his "good friends".
In 1995, he received his degree in architecture and engineering at Tripoli's al-Fateh University, and then went on to obtain a management degree from the International Business School in Vienna before gaining a doctorate at Britain's London School of Economics (LSE).
Presenting himself as a humanitarian ambassador through the charitable body he set up in 1997, the young Gaddafi – whose name means the sword of Islam in Arabic – was at the heart of the complex negotiations over the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor freed by Libya in July 2007.
His foundation also negotiated the release of Western hostages held by a group of Islamist extremists in the Philippines in 2000 – who had earlier been funded by his father. He is said to have personally negotiated the financial compensation paid by Libya to the families of victims killed in the Lockerbie plane bombing in 1988 and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner.
The shaven headed bachelor, who keeps lions as pets, enjoys sea fishing and has a number of falcons with which he hunts, pledged a £1.5 million through his foundation to his alma mater, the LSE, a donation that in the light of recent events has caused no end of embarrassment to the university.
Saif al-Islam was a regular at London's top night spots. He and his brothers reportedly paid over £600,000 a pop to get Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Usher to sing at their birthday parties.
It is reported that Saif al-Islam owns an £10 million mansion in Hampstead, North London – complete with suede-lined cinema room and swimming pool. The house was bought in 2009 by a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
According to US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks, the Gaddafi children routinely benefited from the Libya's wealth. One cable written by Chris Stevens, a US diplomat in Libya, said it had "become common practice" for government funds to be used to promote companies controlled by Gaddafi's children. He also indicated that their companies have all benefited from "considerable government financing and political backing."
Gaddafi's fifth eldest son, Hannibal, also developed a reputation for things unconnected to his business acumen. In 2001, he attacked three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher. In September 2004, he was briefly detained in Paris after driving a Porsche at high speed in the wrong direction and through red lights down the Champs-Elysees while intoxicated.
A year later his model wife, Aline Skaf, filed an assault suit against him. And on July 15, 2008, Hannibal and his wife were held for two days and charged with assaulting two maids in a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. Gaddafi retaliated by arresting Swiss nationals in Libya and suspended oil deliveries to Switzerland.
Rumours have long abounded that state funds were used to further the career of Col Gaddafi's footballing son, Saadi, who despite his limited talent once played for Perugia in the Italian football league. The 37-year old, third son of Gaddafi was planning a new city styled on Vegas in the west of Libya.
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