Libyan transitional authority’s call for repatriating part of the slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s ill-gotten wealth has disturbed South Africa, where part of his assets worth one billion US dollars in cash, gold and diamonds is believed to have been deposited with four banks and security companies. The South African authorities have sought to downplay Libya’s claim for obvious reasons, but the Libyans insist that their information is accurate and the dead dictator’s wealth must be returned to its rightful owners—the people of Libya. Last year a luxury multi-million pound mansion belonging to Gaddafi’s son in an exclusive London neighbourhood was taken over by the Libyan authorities. The Gaddafis are believed to have deposited with offshore banks as much as USD 100 bn.

The blame for this grand theft should be apportioned to the banks and other financial institutions that helped the Gaddafis and their cronies move their wealth out of Libya. This is more or less the situation in all developing countries whether they are ruled by dictators or democratically elected greedy leaders. Some Sri Lankans must have been in the exalted company of Gaddafi’s son as fellow members of the London-based exclusive club of racketeers and thieves of public funds. It is being rumoured that several Sri Lankan politicians, too, own luxury mansions in the great wen as well as in other affluent capitals thanks to their corrupt deals. Unfortunately, these allegations have never been probed.

In 1994, SLFP prime ministerial candidate Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga promised to investigate the assets of the UNPers who had, she said, robbed the country of its assets for 17 years, and to rid the country of dooshanaya and bheeshanaya—corruption and political violence. She also vowed to auction all the luxury vehicles her betes noires had acquired while in office, at the Galle Face Green and utilise the proceeds for public welfare. She got elected but her promises were broken like the pie crust. Then the UNP promised to expose the corrupt SLFP politicians but when it captured power in Parliament in 2001, all it did was to seize a former minister’s certificates of deposit in a bank vault. It stopped short of probing the assets of others—something it must have regretted when President Kumaratunga sacked its government in 2004. Politicians in power are wary of going the whole hog to expose their rivals’ corruption, which they reduce to a mere political slogan because they commit the same sins as their predecessors. Therefore, the corrupt in the present dispensation, too, do not have to worry about being probed in the event of losing power.

The developed countries advocating transparency and good governance should take the blame for allowing their banks to facilitate the laundering of dirty money from the four corners of the earth. The same may be said of the blood diamond and blood mineral trade controlled by western multinationals with the help of dangerous armed groups in Africa. Only the US has, to its credit, cracked the whip. The Economist has revealed the biggest money-laundering settlements with the US authorities, the names of banks concerned, the amounts paid, dates and the countries involved in allegations. Among them are banking giants like HSBC, Standard Charted, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Credit Suisse. It is high time Europe followed suit and cleaned its Augean financial stables.