Farhat Omar Bengdara (Arabic: فرحات عمر بن قداره, 27 September 1965 in Benghazi) is a Libyan politician who was the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation.
[1] He is a banker who was the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) until he defected to the anti-Gaddafi side in the course of the Libyan Civil War.
He left Libya for Turkey, which had directs flights and no visa requirements, on 21 February, but was formally in office until 6 March, when the government realised he would not return.
[4] He said that as a result 96% of external Libyan funds were blocked, and that the sanctions were extremely effective and were having a major impact on the regime.
[2] He went on to describe his current role with the National Transitional Council, essentially trying to maintain banking functions in the free zone, and fostering relationships between the NTC and other countries which will allow central banking to be resumed when the conflict is over.