Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, deposited £3 billion ($4.8 billion) with a private wealth manager in the Mayfair district of London last week, gaining the help of a Switzerland-based intermediary, according to The Times (of London).

The report did not cite its sources by name.

The intermediary initially attempted to deposit the Libyan funds with an unidentified stockbroking firm in London as far back as five weeks ago but its attempt was refused, according to the chief executive of the firm, whom the report did not identify by name.

The CEO reportedly said the firm turned down the request because of Gaddafi’s brutal record as a ruler. The ruler allegedly has “about £10 billion in the City”, the report added.

The organisation MyPrivateBanking has recently warned that tens of billions of dollars of illegal money may have been hurriedly deposited in private banks from rich families and others from crisis-torn North African and Middle Eastern countries. The concerns about questionable wealth transfers have risen amid the turmoil in Yemen, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.