The Head of the Libyan Audit Bureau Khalid Shakshak has accused the Chairman of the financial committee of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) Omar Tantoush of engaging with several firms in money smuggling, slamming him as a follower of the governor of the Central Bank of Libya Al-Siddiq Al-Kabeer.

"Being Al-Kabeer's follower led to the continuity of the division inside the CBL and the financial crisis." He added in his response to a letter by Tantoush.

He also lashed out the conduct of the financial committee, which he said was - through its Chairman - defending the CBL amid its striking failure to find solutions to the financial crisis in Libya, knowing that the CBL was to blame for the banking crises in Libya.

"Besides being the companion of the CBL governor in all his meetings and travels abroad, not to mention staying at the CBL headquarters in a violation to article 212 of the HoR internal codes." Shakshak explained.

"Tantoush's letter came after the Audit Bureau's report in 2016 that included companies' names whose owners smuggled money outside Libya using fake letters of credit - proven so by the Audit Bureau and then sent to the Attorney General." He further explained.

He accused Tantoush also of supporting the companies' owners in order to get to attend Tunis-hosted meetings, with attempts to make them meet Audit Bureau officials, adding that all those skeptical behaviors make Tantoush an accomplice of corruption in the letters of credit issue.

Tantoush said in his letter to the Audit Bureau in 2016 that their report was unprofessional and illegal as it had not been reviewed by the HoR, saying it was a violation of article 53 of law 19 for 2013. He added that most the information and figures were wrong or needed more fact-checking and should have been published only after receiving the permission from the legislative authority.

"HoR's internal codes don't allow members or even the chairman of the financial committee to issue letters and that would be a violation. I find strange that Tantoush is so busy digging deep into nonviable matters that are even outside his scope of authority. He should be taking care of people's conditions and doing his job as a finance official." The Head of the Audit Bureau added.

"All our reports were done by specialized people with the needed amounts of objectivity and professionalism included as we go through this critical stage in the Libyan crisis. Our reports revealed so many violations and were hailed by local and international organizations alike." He concluded.