BILLIONARE BUSINESSMAN CLAIMS KSH300 BILLION FROM COMMERCIAL AIRLINE.

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Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi appearing for billionaire businessman Yusuf Abdi Adan leaving Milimani law courts after filing a Sh300 billion claim suit./PHOTO BY S.A.N.

 

BY SAM ALFAN.

A billionaire businessman wants a renowned commercial airline, Blue Bird Aviation Ltd closed down claiming that three of his co-directors have been defrauding him upto USD3billion (KSh300 billion) over the last 23 years.

Alternatively, the aggrieved billionaire, Yusuf Abdi Adan, asks that the other three directors do purchase his 25 per cent shareholding in the lucrative firm subject to a forensic audit of its financial status by a court-appointed receiver.

The company, the second largest airline after national carrier Kenya Airways, was incorporated on May 25, 1992 with four original shareholders. The petitioner is the only businessman while the other three directors-Hussein Ahmed Farah, Hussein Unshur Mohamed and Mohamed Abdikadir Adan- are veteran aircraft pilots who manage the day-to-day affairs of the firm.

Yusuf has protested that he naively trusted the trio to conduct the affairs of the company professionally and honestly but was totally excluded from all financial matters, including the turn-over, loss and profit account, net assets, subsidiaries and foreign bank accounts. He has accused his colleague businessmen of fraudulently misappropriating between USD750million to USD1billion since the firm started its operations.

He also says that the three directors have created two parallel financial systems in their quest to siphon off profits and have never called an annual general meeting or declared annual dividends. He has been receiving occasional cash hand-outs from them whenever he has complained, according to a petition lodged at the Milimani Commercial Court, Nairobi.

Yusuf also claims that the three directors hold substantial amounts of money in foreign currencies, bought prime properties across the country and invested massively in local and international stocks and shares. They have allegedly formed shell companies to facilitate fraud and money-laundering, he says in the suit papers signed by Ahmednassir, Abdikadir and Company Advocates.

The three men, according to the petitioner, have interests in Amazon International FZE, Safarilink Aviation Ltd, Blue Bird Air Cargo, Mount Hood Investment (K) Ltd, Rolls Court Investment (Ltd, 748 Air Services (K) Ltd and Coopers Creek Ltd.

“Upon learning of the massive fraud perpetuated on the company, the petitioner called on the three directors to account due to the sheer grandeur of the financial scam. The three directors, however, dismissed the petitioner’s request but ironically proceeded to unilaterally conduct a mock valuation of the company and advised him to quickly take USD30million as the value of his shares,” Yusuf says in the petition.

He says he personally appointed two nominees as his alternate directors onOctober 27 and November 2, last year but they were summarily rejected by the three directors. “It is clear that the relationship between the petitioner and his co-directors is so seriously strained that the parties cannot run the affairs of the company in accordance with its Articles of Association,” Yusuf says in a sworn statement.

“The co-directors have refused to meet or discuss anything about the company with your petitioner with a view to resolve the matter, preferring instead to dismiss him arbitrarily,” the businessman has explained.

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