On 19 December, reports emerged that the Audit Bureau had been forced to relocate from its headquarters in the Dhara area of Tripoli to the Guest Palaces Complex in the Hay Dimashq area, with the Dhara HQ being cordoned off by armed groups and files being transferred to the new location.
The same day, the Deputy Head of the Tripoli-based Audit Bureau (AB) Atiyallah al-Saiti issued a clarification claiming that the Dhara building, leased from the General Maritime Transport Company, is not fit for use and that the Guest Palaces Complex was chosen through legal procedures approved by the Audit Bureau head Khaled Shakshak and is only a short-term lease. Saiti further added that the Dhara HQ was not cordoned off illegitimately but by the Facilities and Installations Security Authority with which the AB has concluded an official, legitimate contract to protect the AB from the outside. Finally, he said that only some files were transferred to the new building, noting this was with the approval of Shakshak, while also stressing that all files are digitalised anyway.
Shortly after the same day, UNSMIL issued a statement saying it was ‘deeply concerned about the escalating situation surrounding the National Audit Bureau, which poses a serious threat to the integrity of this sovereign institution. Tasked with safeguarding transparency, accountability, and good governance, the Audit Bureau’s operational independence must be upheld. UNSMIL urges all parties involved to respect the institution’s mandate and avoid politicising sovereign bodies essential to Libya’s stability and governance.’
Also on 19 December, US Charge d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt met with Khaled Shakshak underscoring ‘U.S. concern about pressures exerted against the integrity and independence of the Audit Bureau’ and reiterating UNSMIL’s call for ‘all parties involved to respect the Audit Bureau’s mandate and avoid politicizing sovereign institutions’. Over the following days, other international diplomats including the EU Ambassador Nicola Orlando, the French Ambassador Mostafa Mihraje, the Egyptian Ambassador Tamer al-Hafni and the Deputy British Ambassador Thomas Phipps met with Shakshak and reiterated very similar messages, expressing their support and the need for the AB to remain free from political interference.