uk-Libya rapprochement with admit child ghadafi in oxford

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University of Oxford lobbied to Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam to accept as a student in the hope of promoting a rapprochement with Libya, a survey has found.

A study by Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice, said the support shown by the British government and British companies for the son of the dictator as opportunities fragrance companies to do business with Libya.

The study was established to the London School of Economics to investigate ties with Libya, including a decision to accept donation of £ 1.5 million to a charity run by Gaddafi's son for a research program North Africa.

The study found a "bewildering number of breakdowns in communication and governance" in relations with the Libyan regime LSE. The scandal erupted in Libya in revolt against Gaddafi's regime and led to the resignation of director Sir Howard Davies.

But it also looks at the burgeoning commercial interests behind Saif relationship with the LSE. The study reports that the arms company BAE Systems has a staff member of the marketing team sent to work with Saif al-Islam.

This employee has helped Saif apply to study at the London School of Economics, where he was adopted in August 2002. The employee of BAE officially seconded to the love of Saif BAE - which continues to employ the employee to pay - between 2004 and 2006.

BAE said the research at the time Libya was "apparently come into the fold" and the government hopes that British companies should be prepared to deal with the Gaddafi regime. BAE said it was not preparing for the sale of arms to Libya, but the requirements as to the civil airport radars to meet.

In the spring of 2002, a senior State Department asked the University of Oxford, as Saif was obviously a master's degree to take. "It was clear ... that the FCO would appreciate help in this case, because Libya was the opening to the West again." The head of Oxford International Development told the FCO that the application would be "unlikely to bloom ... because Saif had no training in social sciences, and the level it does not meet the required quality."

The FCO refused his request, the inquiry was told.

LSE was through charitable donation Saif, but the original source may have three private companies. Woolf said he could not exclude that the money was paid in bribes to Saif al-Islam.

According to an e-mail from Saif's personal assistant, the original source of the donation were three companies - Turkish, Italian and Scottish - tender for construction and engineering work in Libya.

Scottish firm in the "business opportunity search in Libya, especially in the military," specializes in an internal memo from the LSE.

"The knowledge that the gift was funded by private companies that have done work in Libya must have been red flags," the report said.

Saif is now in prison in Libya after shooting in the desert south of the country earlier this month.

The research report indicates that he was an LSE academic, Professor David Held, who "first topic Saif the possibility of funding the Centre for Global Governance in December 2008."

The gift was £ 1.5 m in increments of £ 300 000 over five years. Periodic payments must be made annually.

The report said. "It was not a donation, but the basis of a relationship between schools and lenders, which is not unusual, however, given the volatility of the Gaddafi regime, the gift under a risk is important because the duration of the relationship."

A decision was taken that the gift would not directly, but Saif from "private sources".

This step "has become essential to the presentation of the Hero of the gift. Unless the money was shown as coming from the Foundation from private sources, it would have been unacceptable money considered the Libyan state." Lord Woolf's report states that "The private aspect of this gift was very difficult."

He writes: "I am not satisfied (and it was not satisfied with the Commission) that the money was the source of the donation to the foundation LSE Saif was not the result of payments impact of Saif looking for private companies."

He quotes a former British ambassador to Libya said it was common knowledge that Saif was "deeply in the role of intermediary for large commercial interests in Libya." The gift was accepted, despite protests house. The study noted a warning by Fred Halliday, a Middle East expert at the LSE in 2009, that:. "People who have no deep knowledge of politics or Arab Jamahiriya had tried to convince him that Libya was changing, but in 2009, Libya remains one of the most dictatorial regimes and opaque Arabs."

Woolf said the director of the LSE at the time, Sir Howard Davies, was "responsible for what happened. "

Davies joined in March, after the university's reputation was battered by his ties with Libya.

Held, professor of political science at the LSE, was an academic advisor to the son of toppled dictator, when he studied at London University and was director of the research funded by the love of Saif al-Islam.

Saif al-Islam is allowed to "the goals and expectations" to expose the program, according to documents LSE leaks.

Woolf writes: "I come to a conclusion about whether there was or would have been undue influence of donors on the use of the funds of the foundation of Saif, what was made clear that appropriate governance structures are needed to protect . scientific integrity against the influence of the interests of private donors. "

Woolf study examined a series of connections between the LSE and the Gaddafi regime, including:

• A £ 2.2 million contract to train Libyan officials and professionals. £ 1.5m of this money has been received.

• A payment of £ 20 000 for the education of the head of the Libyan Investment Authority.

• A payment to the University of $ 50 000 after Davies gave advice to Libya sovereign fund in 2007.

• A reward of love Gaddafi of £ 22 857 to cover travel expenses for university professors to Libya to visit.

A separate research into allegations of plagiarism in the thesis of Saif al-Islam doctorate from the University of London, that the degree awarded. They concluded that the degree of doctor should not be withdrawn.

Woolf, however, the study said that "Saif background meant he was a level of assistance which are not open for regular PhD students to obtain."

North Africa, the research program was suspended when the Libyan uprising began this year, while the LSE Global Governance was signed at the end of July. The LSE has agreed to £ 300,000 - equivalent to the money he received from the Gaddafi Foundation for the research questions - a scholarship for students from North Africa.