OMAN-based businessman Thamer Said Ahmed Al Shanfari, who
is demanding four Glen Lorne houses in Harare, allegedly confiscated from him
by the army, has accused authorities of seeking to grab his properties by “hook
or crook”.
The current litigation arose after Shanfari approached the
High Court seeking to have a caveat placed on his properties, which he claimed
had been unlawfully grabbed by authorities.
According to court papers, Shanfari cited Defence minister Oppah
Muchinguri-Kashiri, the Defence ministry, Rusununguko Nkululeko Holdings,
Folyjon Garden (Private) Limited (Folyjon), former Defence ministry permanent
secretary Martin Rushwaya and registrar of deeds in Harare as respondents.
However, responding to Muchinguri-Kashiri’s affidavit, who
argued that the businessman did not own any property in Zimbabwe and that he
was a fugitive from justice, Shanfari, to the contrary, said he had no cases to
answer.
“In my respectful submission the first and second
respondents (Muchinguri and the Defence ministry), are mistaken in their belief
that I am a ‘fugitive from justice’. I am not,” he said.
He said there was a plot to bar him from entering the
country, through a November 15, 2019 letter from the Immigration Department to
the secretary of the Defence ministry claiming he had two outstanding warrants
of apprehension.
He, however, said this did not stop him from instituting
legal actions while outside the country.
“The timing of annexure C (letter from Immigration
Department) to the first and second respondents’ opposition is extremely
strange and points towards a fishy concoction of documents by the respondents,
in their effort to nail me, by hook or by crook,” he said.
Shanfari accused the army-owned company Rusununguko
Nkululeko Holdings of illegally grabbing his four houses located in Harare’s
plush suburb of Glen Lorne. The properties are cited as stand number 98, 99,
100 and 101 Glen Lorne Township 8 of Lot 40A Glen Lorne.
However, Muchinguri told the court that contrary to
Shanfari’s claims, the businessman did not own any movable and immovable assets
in the country.
In his papers, Shanfari claimed he acquired the said
properties between 1999 and 2001 using his personal funds and that all the
documentation pertaining to the acquisition and ownership of the properties was
presently in the custody of the Defence ministry’s lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa of
Titan Law Chambers, who was previously his legal representative in the country.
Daily News
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