Libya's oil crisis has taken a new twist, with claims that Naji Mukhtar, the chairman of the national assembly's energy committee, paid millions of Libyan dinars to a group that controls several key oil ports in the east of the country.

The allegations emerged during a recent interview in the local media with Salim Jadhran, a member of a group which has forced the Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina oil terminals in eastern Libya to shut down for almost two months.

Jadhran claimed that Naji Mukhtar, the chairman of the energy committee of Libya's parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), had sent him millions of dinars in return for reopening the ports.

He showed certified cheques or bonds totalling LD30m ($24m) that he claimed Mukhtar had given him, and also said he had received LD2.5m ($2m) into his account.

"Naji Mukhtar called me from Benghazi saying that in five minutes you will see the money in your account," said Jadhran, according to comments carried by An-Naba, "and I found LD2.5m [$2m] had been transferred to my account while the rest of the amount is in the form of sukuk [Islamic bonds] each with a value of LD6m [$4.7m]".

He claimed that Mukhtar was "negotiating on behalf of [prime minister Ali] Zeidan".

"We are completely aware that the closure of oil ports will have no effect on Libyans before December 2013...this is because salaries for this period have already gone though and people will not be affected by this closure," Jadhran was quoted as saying. 

"The government negotiated with me and did not negotiate with my brother Ibrahim. Ibrahim rejected meeting with the government in secret...Naji Mukhtar held the sukuk in his hands before he gave them to me and said “I have entrusted you and my future is now in your hands, and so is the future of this government”.

Salim Jadhran is the brother of Ibrahim Jadhran, the leader of the political division of a group called the Cyrenaica Transitional Council, which is demanding greater devolution of power to eastern Libya.

The allegations prompted the president of the General National Congress (GNC), Nuri Abu Sahmain, to launch an urgent enquiry into the claims, which were initially denied by Mukhtar.

However in a press conference on 24 September, comments from which were carried by state news agency LANA, Mukhtar said that he had accepted an invitation to visit Jadhran in Ajdabiya, his home town, and that at a 1am meeting Jadhran had asked for LD30m ($24m) in return for reopening the ports.

Mukhtar said that he pledged to pay Jadhran the sum that he had demanded, but that Jadhran refused to open the terminals until he received LD2.5m ($2m) into his account.

Mukhtar said he transferred the money the following day from his personal account, without the knowledge of the GNC or the government, and that Jadhran demanded that he also be given promissory notes, or guarantees, for the remainder of the amount.

Once he received this amount, according to Mukhtar, Jadhran promised to withdraw from the oil ports "permanently."

Mukhtar said he gave Jadhran four bonds worth LD30m ($24m) that were "not redeemable, saying that he did not actually have that amount of money, but wanted to resolve the oil crisis and "serve Libya."

Quoted in the Quryna newspaper, Mukhtar also accused Jadhran of offering him large sums of money in return for publicly announcing that crude oil was being sold without being measured properly - a claim that had previously been levelled at the National Oil Corporation (NOC), which denied it.

"The Jadhran brothers are the ones who are dealing in bribery," said Mukhtar.

None of the claims from either party are easily verifiable, but they provide some insight into the negotiations that have been ongoing between the government and the groups involved in closing the terminals in eastern Libya.

State news agency LANA said in the evening of 24 September that the GNC was referring the matter to the Attorney General for further investigation.

Libya's oil output recovered to over 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) last week but remains at less than half of the 1.5 million bpd that was being pumped in early 2013.