Austria is seeking additional European Union sanctions against a close associate of Moamer Gaddafi, as he could currently be in Europe to shore up cash for the Libyan leader, officials said Thursday, dpa reported.
Mustafa Zarti, the deputy chief executive of Libya's state investment fund, has an Austrian passport and is therefore free to travel in the European Union, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Austria is planning to freeze Zarti's assets, they said, as they suspect him of acting on behalf of Gaddafi.
Two Austrian media outlets reported that Zarti was responsible for managing some 30 billion dollars of Libyan funds in Austria, far more than the 1.2 billion that the National Bank said it would freeze earlier this week.
The officials said they could not confirm this sum.
Austrian authorities consider Zarti to be a close associate of Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam. Both lived in Vienna for several years.
Zarti also holds several other senior management positions in the oil industry, the reports said.