Kevin Thompson
A Dubai based businessman who originally hails from Russia gained much attention of the media in the last couple of years. This well-known businessman, Alibek Issaev, is at present settled in the UAE with his family. He is also a familiar face as an investor in the world of start-ups. Issaev is also recognised as a Russian telecommunications magnate and is a local diamond dealer as well. But, this time he was not into the headlines because of his contributions in the new ventures but because of counter claims of theft over a rare pink diamond. The value of this diamond is estimated to be about 2.5 million rupees.
Alibek Issaev had alleged that his four counterparts, namely, Zunaid Moti, his father Abbas Aboo Bahir Moti, Ashruf Kaka and Salim Bobat, stole the precious diamond from him. The Interpol had issued red notices against these four Indian-origin businessmen in South Africa over this controversy. A red notice is issued by Interpol and is an international alert which seeks to find the location and exercise the arrest of the wanted person for the purpose of deportation.
However, in the war of counter-claims, the four men had approached the local court with a plea to prohibit the execution of the warrants issued by Interpol. They claimed that the Russian businessman had obtained the warrants by some fraudulent means. In return, these four accused Issaev of stealing the rare pink diamond from them.
Amidst all this backlashing, Sylla Moussa, an international diamond dealer, blamed the four men of stealing the same diamond from him in the year 2003. In contrast to this, Kaka, one of the four men, ensured to have a letter of surety from Moussa that the diamond was given to his associates and him in lieu of payment for a debt.
The court had been urged to adjourn the warrants. The South African police and judicial authorities had confirmed that no such warrant related to deportation of the four men was received by them.
Fullerton