April 2026
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بيان صحفي
This investigation exposes the financial machinery that underwrote a significant part of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s failed 2019–2020 offensive on Tripoli and documents the subsequent rise of a key enabler of the Haftar family’s kleptocratic activities: Ahmed Gadalla, also known as Ahmed Alushibe or Ahmed al-Aashibi., , Prior to the April 2019 assault, Gadalla utilized a set of companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to secure $300 million in loans from the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Bank for Foreign Investment and Trade, commonly known as al-Masraf bank. These funds, backed by a guarantee deposit from the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), were funneled by Gadalla’s companies into the war effort, likely including payments to Russia’s Wagner Group. After Haftar’s offensive collapsed, the loans have remained largely unpaid, leaving the Libyan public to bear the financial burden while Gadalla has faced no accountability.
In the years since, Gadalla has transitioned from an obscure financier to a dominant force in eastern Libya’s economy, operating under the protection of Saddam Haftar, the field marshal’s son. Gadalla has wielded control over the Bank of Commerce and Development (BCD) and other financial institutions in eastern Libya, such as Wahda Bank and National Commercial Bank, using them to facilitate large-scale letter-of-credit fraud and to launder illicit profits. Through his control of BCD, Gadalla is also involved in the circulation of counterfeit Russian-printed dinars, a scheme that has helped undermine Libya’s local currency.
Beyond financial abuses, Gadalla has served as a key enabler for the Haftar family’s transnational arms smuggling in apparent violation of the United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya. Gadalla helped orchestrate several recent high-profile schemes, playing an active role in arranging the intricate payment structures and logistical routes necessary to illicitly transfer military equipment to Benghazi. Incidents include the Haftars’ attempted importation of Chinese combat drones disguised as wind turbines in 2024 and their failed procurement of Spanish drones the prior year, not to mention the July 2025 shipment of armored vehicles and ammunition from the UAE intended for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in Sudan.
The Sentry sought comment from Gadalla and his companies, as well as from al-Masraf bank and the LFB on the allegations set forth in this report before publication. None of these parties responded to The Sentry’s requests for comment.
The scrutiny applied to Gadalla in this investigation serves a broader purpose: his prolific, multi-domain operations provide evidence of the profound structural deficiencies plaguing Libyan economic institutions. Rather than an isolated anomaly, Gadalla exemplifies the country’s systemic vulnerability and the unchecked rise of “enablers” who take advantage of institutional weakness and armed protection to help powerful figures loot state wealth. By bridging the gap between militia violence and finance, figures like Gadalla assist warlords in translating territorial control into formidable economic sway. The impunity of such second-tier operators is sustained by the fragmentation of Libyan state institutions and the diplomatic hesitation of foreign governments, which remain reluctant to anger warlords perceived as essential to energy flows and migration control.
To dismantle this cycle, The Sentry recommends that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) impose targeted network sanctions on Ahmed Gadalla, his companies, and his associates. Without concerted international action to hold enablers like Gadalla accountable, Libya faces the continued erosion of its economic foundations and the entrenchment of large-scale kleptocracy.