Italy: Police impound €20mln tourist development from Gaddafi family

Rome - Tax police Wednesday seized a 20 million euro hotel complex and land on the picturesque southern Italian island of Pantelleria from the family of late Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

Before his demise, Gaddafi was rumoured to be planning to build a holiday village on Pantelleria, which is located halfway between Sicily and the Tunisian coast and is famed for its crystalline blue waters and unspoilt beaches.

Wednesday's seizures on Pantelleria ordered by a Rome court follow the 1.1 billion euros of Gaddafi family assets impounded by Italian tax police in March at the request by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is seeking the extradition from Libya of Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, on charges of crimes against humanity.

Among the assets seized in March held by Libyan sovereign wealth funds was a 1.3 per cent stake in Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, and a 0.6 per cent stake in oil major Eni, the top foreign energy producer in Libya. (...)