Libya’s chief prosecutor orders arrest of culture minister
Mabrouka Othman's detention has been ordered as part of a probe into an alleged graft of state funds, a week after the arrest of the education minister in a similar case.
The accusations include misuse of public funds and forging official documents to conceal irregularities.
Libya’s top prosecutor has ordered the country's culture minister jailed pending an investigation into allegations of corruption.
General Prosecutor Al-Sediq al-Sour said in a statement on Wednesday that Mabrouka Othman would be jailed for four days pending the investigations into alleged managerial and financial irregularities and forgery.
READ MORE: What’s next for Libya after delayed elections?
The alleged corruption stems from maintenance contracts this year of some the ministry’s buildings.
The statement said the ministry conducted the maintenance of the facilities in 2020.
The accusations include misuse of public funds and forging official documents to conceal irregularities, it said.
Othman, an academic with a degree in nuclear physics, was appointed in March as part of the country's interim unity government.
The minister’s office couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
Her detention comes a week and a half after Libya's Education Minister Moussa al-Megarief was arrested as part of an inquiry into a lack of schoolbooks.
The prosecution service said it was investigating possible "negligence" in that case.
A decade of chaos
The oil-rich nation slid into chaos after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled then killed long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
The North African country was supposed to hold a presidential election last Friday in a United Nations-led effort to drag Libya out of its years of conflict.
The ballot was delayed to an unspecified date after bitter arguments over divisive candidates and a disputed legal framework.
READ MORE: Are the drums of war beating the week before elections in Libya?
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