London School of Economics head quits over Gaddafi links

The director of the London School of Economics, Sir Howard Davies, has resigned over financial links between the prestigious British university and family of the embattled Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Sir Howard quit yesterday after it emerged he approved the decision to accept a research grant of 1.5 million pounds from Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, run by Col Gaddafi's eldest son Saif, in 2009.

"I advised the (university's) council that it was reasonable to accept the money and that has turned out to be a mistake. There were risks involved in taking funding from sources associated with Libya, and they should have been weighed more heavily in the balance.

"I have concluded that it would be right for me to step down even though I know that this will cause difficulty for the institution I have come to love. The short point is that I am responsible for the school's reputation, and that has suffered," the British media quoted Sir Howard as saying.

In fact, the research grant of 1.5 million pounds was meant to train at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) hundreds of young Libyans to become part of the North African nation's future elite.

The university said out of that amount, some 300,000 pounds has been received and announced that its council would conduct an independent probe into the LSE's relationship with Libya and with Saif Gaddafi.

However, Sir Howard, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, who once served as former Prime Minister Tony Blair's economic envoy to Libya, will remain as head of LSE until a successor is appointed.

The LSE had earlier announced that it is investigating claims that Saif Gaddafi plagiarised his PhD thesis, which was awarded in 2008. The Libyan leader's son had studied at LSE, gaining both an MSc and PhD.