London School of Economics may strip Gaddafi's son of PhD

Almaty. March 1. Kazakhstan Today - London School of Economics, which accepted a 1.5 million pound donation from Col Muammar Gaddafi's son, may strip him of his doctorate decree, Kazakhstan Today reports.

The head of a leading British university, which has taken cash from Libya, yesterday admitted he was 'embarrassed' by his relationship with the Gaddafi regime, Daily Mail reported.

The London School of Economics accepted an offer of 1.5million pound of research funding from a foundation controlled by Saif Gaddafi, the dictator's son - and has already spent half of the money it has received.

Sir Howard Davies, the director of the LSE, had feted Saif as the modernising and acceptable face of the Gaddafi regime.

But to his acute embarrassment the second son of Colonel Gaddafi went on state television last week to proclaim that his father remained in charge and would, with the army's backing, 'fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet'.

Sir Howard yesterday admitted his shame and 'embarrassment', saying the close relationship and acceptance of the funding had 'backfired', and acknowledging he had seriously misjudged Saif.

He also expressed regret that he had visited the country to advise the regime about how it could modernise its financial institutions.

Saif was awarded a PhD from the LSE in 2008 after studying at the university's Centre for the Study of Global Governance. He then made a 1.5million pound gift to the LSE from his organisation, the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF), in 2009.

Professor David Held, co-director of the Centre for Global Governance, was an informal mentor and an economic adviser to Saif and appointed a trustee of GICDF.

To date the foundation had paid 300,000 pound of the 1.5million pound pledged, half of which has been spent on research into the development of democracy and civil society in North Africa.

Yesterday the LSE said it would plough the remaining 150,000 pound into a scholarship fund.

Sir Howard admitted his errors after coming under intense pressure from the LSE's student body.

The London School of Economics is under pressure to strip Saif Gaddafi of his PhD after claims that his thesis was ghost-written or that he had heavily plagiarised other works.

The allegations first surfaced after he was awarded the academic qualification in 2008.

Saif's thesis is called The Role Of Civil Society In The Democratisation Of Global Governance Institutions.

Some 16 examples of where he has plagiarised well-known academic texts in his thesis have already been pinpointed by critics on the internet.

He lifted whole passages from International Monetary Fund research and numerous academic texts such as Denying Democracy: How The IMF And World Bank Take Power From People, by Tim Jones and Peter Hardstaff.

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