Italian Tax Police Seize Qaddafi Assets Worth $1.4 Billion

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi gives a speech in Rome in August 2010.

Italian tax authorities say they have seized $1.4 billion in assets thought to have belonged to the deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and his family.

The tax police said in a statement the assets included stakes in Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, the oil and natural gas firm Eni, the defense group Finmeccanica, Italian carmaker Fiat, and the Turin-based soccer club Juventus.

The police said the International Criminal Court ordered the seizure of Qaddafi's assets.

The Hague-based court is handling complaints lodged by alleged victims of the Qaddafi regime, which was overthrown in a popular uprising last year.

Qaddafi was killed on October 20, 2011, after being cornered in his hometown of Sirte.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa