PM halts De La Rue's Libya deal

1st Mar 2011 11:21

The coalition government has stopped De La Rue from exporting £900m of dinars to Colonel Gaddafi's regime in Libya.An export control order slapped on the shipment by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills makes it a criminal offence to go ahead with the deal.De La Rue, the only banknote printer in this country able to fulfil the order, has yet to comment.Its share price is little changed today. Talk is the firm, which saw off a £900m bid from French rival Oberthur in January, has already been paid for labour and materials. The company's most pressing concern at the moment is keeping its contract with India's central bank following paper production problems that cost it £35m and the job of chief executive James Hussey.