Moreno Ocampo writes to Fatou Bensouda over files leak
What you need to know:
In a letter addressed to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Mr Ocampo on Wednesday said he is also supporting the inquiry into the allegations to establish the truth.
- He stated that his advice to a Libyan warlord was exclusively based on Ms Bensouda’s public statement before the UN Security Council presented on May 12, 2015.
Former International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has denied allegations that he assisted warlords escape prosecution.
In a letter addressed to his successor, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Mr Ocampo on Wednesday said he also supports the court's internal inquiry into the allegations to establish the truth.
The court's Internal Oversight Mechanism is investigating an alleged document leak and two of Ms Bensouda's are among those targeted.
LIBYA
According to Spiegel Online, the leaked documents showed that Mr Ocampo entered into a deal near the end of his term where he was apparently to be paid $3 million (Sh300 million) to advise Hassan Tatanaki, “a dubious Libyan oil billionaire and former supporter of the Gadhafi regime who is deeply involved in the Libyan civil war."
But Mr Ocampo stated that his advice, revealing that Libya's bloody conflict that broke out in 2014 was going to be investigated by the ICC, was exclusively based on Ms Bensouda’s public statement before the UN Security Council presented on May 12, 2015.
“To prevent violence, you announced what groups acting in Libya would be investigated,” Mr Ocampo said in his letter to Ms Bensouda.
KENYA
He sought to clarify that none of the advice he had given in the course of his private practice since he ended his tenure had triggered any conflict of interest with regards to his mandate as ICC prosecutor, provoked any interference with the court’s work or any of its officials.
His career after exiting the court was also not based on any internal or confidential information, he said.
Some of the leaked documents touched on the dropping of charges against Kenyan leaders indicted by the The Hague-based court over the 2007-08 post-poll chaos.
On his list, the prosecutor had Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr William Ruto, Mr Francis Muthaura, Mr Henry Kosgey and Mr Hussein Ali and Mr Joshua arap Sang.
However, in his response, Mr Ocampo does not make specific reference to Kenyan cases that collapsed.
The alleged leaked documents were analysed by respected media outlets including Germany’s Der Spiegel, a French investigative website Mediapart, a leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Dars Spiegel, Black Sea and European Investigative Collaborations (EIC).
