(ANSA) - CAIRO, 19 FEB - The permanence of the literally princely plane of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in an airport in Perpignan, France, and the tangle of legal claims that have kept him on the ground since 2014 are described in details in a long article published today on the CNN website.
Although no take-off is planned, the four engines of the Airbus A340-200 still were turned around towards the end of last year, local sources noted.
Already in 2016 the costs of maintenance, repair and refurbishment of the plane that once had offered alcohol, among other things, a Jacuzzi, cinema and bedroom with mirrors on the walls had exceeded three million euros: a sum that Air France also pulled in as a party, "adding an additional layer of complexity to the case", notes the American broadcaster.
Among the legal disputes that blocked the plane, the one won by a Jordanian mediator who claimed compensation for a sale of the aircraft before Gaddafi bought it in 2006 for 120 million dollars is remembered.
The sale that was the subject of the lawsuit, which ended in London in 2013, is the one that passed the super-Airbus from Prince Al-WaleedBin Talal, a billionaire businessman from the royal family, to the Libyan dictator.
The prince (and playboy) Jefri Bolkiah, brother of the sultan of Brunei, recalls CNN, lavishly equipped the 1996 plane, spending perhaps 250 million dollars.
(HANDLE).
