Selebi, interpol and Dawood ibrahim
fire
Selebi and the crime lord: it's not just cricket
Issue # 90 - April 2007 Print this article
FOLLOWING THE DISCLOSURES IN nose89 about the mysterious visits by
national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to the Mister Jewellery
business of Steven Ferrer, we now have news of the top cop's equally
mysterious visits to a firm of electronic goods wholesalers in
southern Johannesburg.
As in the Mister Jewellery affair, smuggler Imran Ismail features as
the grand orchestrator of events. And a staggering question arises:
was a heavily-disguised man who accompanied Ismail and Selebi to a
Cricket World Cup match at Centurion in 2003 the long-sought global
terrorist Dawood Ibrahim?
The electronic goods wholesaler in question is WG Electronics, formed
in 1997 as a 50-50 venture between Stanley Abrahams and wealthy
Singapore resident Gautam Kunzru. They each put up R1m to get it going
and the company operated from offices and a warehouse in
Johannesburg's Crown Mines.
WG imported electronic parts from Aiwa in Japan and Korea's Daewoo, to
its base in Botswana, where it enjoyed what was called an FAP - a
financial assistance package offered by the Botswana government, that
included rent-free factory premises in Gaborone, a five-year tax
"holiday" - and the government paid the workers' salaries.
Another director, Ashindra ("Ash") Latchman, ran the Botswana plant.
>From Botswana, assembled units were transported to WG's warehouse in
Crown Mines, from where they were sold to retail chains such as
Massmart.
In the first year, Stanley Abrahams tells noseweek, WG recorded a
modest profit of R1.5m. But, quite early on, Kunzru, who remained
throughout in Singapore, insisted on bringing in a business associate
from Mumbai, India - Sudir Nair became a director and shareholder.
Nair was allotted 10% of the company, from Abrahams' stock.
Soon thereafter, notorious smuggler Imran Ismail (see noses59 & 89)
was making regular visits to Sudir Nair's office at WG, in unit 24,
Amalgam South Industrial Village. In the early days he was accompanied
by the then Gauteng provincial police commissioner Sharma Maharaj;
later national police commissioner Jackie Selebi took his place.
"Maharaj was a far more frequent visitor than Selebi," says Abrahams.
"I was barred from these meetings. Nair's door was closed and locked.
I said 'What's going on?' and Nair just said 'these are friends of
mine'.
"I was still the MD - but without power."
Did he suspect anything sinister about the top cops arriving for
secret meetings behind locked doors? "Nair did it with lots of people,
so I wasn't more suspicious than with anybody else," says Abrahams.
He recalls seeing Selebi at Crown Mines only a couple of times. He
also saw the police chief "a couple more times" at cocktail parties
which Nair threw at his townhouse apartment in Sandton.
Nair was by now living a life of wild extravagance and frequent
parties. "I don't know how he did it on the R30 000 a month salary
from WG," says Abrahams. "And he had kids in school. There had to be a
skim-off; I knew something had to be going down. Selebi would never
have come just socially."
Soon enough it emerged that electronic goods were disappearing from
the warehouse like water down a drain. "It was so dishonest and
deceitful. Only two guys had keys for the front door and the special
code - me and Nair. And stock was disappearing all the time.
"I turned up one Saturday morning at about 8am and found Nair loading
our goods onto trucks with his secretary and four or five labourers. I
reported them to the police, but it got blocked at the top and nothing
happened. A fortnight later I caught Nair's secretary doing the same
thing again. I went to Booysens police and laid a charge. Nair went
hysterical. The case never saw the light of day."
Before Nair joined the company it was making "very healthy profits"
from sales of around R19m a month. But now losses were running at R100
000 every month. Abrahams says that when WG was in the red to the tune
of about R4m he decided to quit. (This was around early 2002).
Paper trail: Ronnie Lipman with Imran Ismail (right)
A second source (whom we shall refer to only as X), and who was
associated with WG at op level, vividly recalls Imran Ismail's visits
to Crown Mines accompanied by Sharma Maharaj and, later, Jackie
Selebi. But X's account starts off with news of a WG-funded holiday to
India in 2001 for provincial commissioner Maharaj.
"We paid for the late Sharma Maharaj's trip to India, for a
fortnight's holiday," says X. "We set him and his wife up at the Taj
hotel in Mumbai for three or four nights."
"Our director and shareholder Sudir Nair, who came from Mumbai, made
all the arrangements, with Imran Ismail. Our company paid the bill,
which came to about R70 000 to R75 000. I found out about it through
the company's financial records."
What had Commissioner Maharaj done for this generous gesture? "The
Lord alone knows. He must have done something; nobody's going to just
give you trips to India."
X claims to have spotted Selebi at the offices of WG much more often
than did Stanley Abrahams, suggesting that Nadir's relationship with
Selebi only bloomed into full flower after Abrahams left the company.
"Jackie was in our office in Crown Mines about every two weeks,
together with Imran Ismail," X claims. "They came to see our director,
Sudir Nair and sat in his locked office, eating food that was sent in.
I didn't see any exchange of funds, but why come along with Imran? I
couldn't understand it."
Imran Ismail, in his late 30s or early 40s, is, it seems, a fourth-
generation South African who was born in Alexandra township, where his
father had a shop. "Imran was the biggest smuggler in South Africa for
electronic goods," says X. "He was working for Dawood Ibrahim in this
country. Ibrahim (see Wanted ) is a ruthless gangster, a very big drug
smuggler and so on. He controlled the cricket match-fixing and Imran
was his right-hand man in South Africa.
"WG Electronics was a legitimate business, but in the end we found out
that the company's name was being used without our knowledge by Imran
and Kieron Naik, his clearing agent.
"Sudir Nair was siphoning off WG's stock to Hi-Fi Corp without his co-
directors' knowledge. He was doing it with Imran, through Playtime
International. Nair delivered to Hi-Fi Corp and the invoice was done
through Playtime International. Nair is very close to Jackie Selebi at
the moment."
Apparently Nair's secret sales to Hi-Fi Corp cost WG Electronics some
R8.6m - and caused the company's collapse.
But now comes the startling revelation: "On 1 March 2003 Imran Ismail
and Jackie Selebi attended the high profile India versus Pakistan
Cricket World Cup match at Centurion.
"Sitting next to Imran in a private box was Dawood Ibrahim. Ibrahim
came into South Africa under another name; legally he wasn't here. In
the same box were top industrialists from India, chairmen of big
companies. I don't know if they recognised him."
At the time Selebi was vice president of Interpol (Africa). (He was
elevated to president in October 2004.)
These days, Sudir Nair, now 65, lives with his wife Irene in Sandown.
Irene Nair is sole director of Trin Marketing and Nair describes
himself as consultant to the "Trin group of companies".
>From Dubai, where he was on a business trip, Nair declares by email:
"The truth and nothing but the truth! Never did Selebi ever visit WG's
premises. Neither WG nor I personally ever made any payment to Selebi,
nor was there any suggestion or favour given by him to the company."
That holiday to India for provincial police commissioner Maharaj?
"Never was anything of this sort ever suggested, nor was any payment
or holiday ever arranged by WG or by me personally," replies Nair.
"Besides, no favour was done to us that would warrant any such
action."
Did he supply WG's goods to Imran Ismail through Playtime
International at a loss to WG of some R8.6m? "I don't remember any
company by the name Playtime," says Nair.
"Dealers used to purchase goods and resell to various other retailers.
I would not be able to say for sure if someone did sell to Hi-Fi Corp.
Our debt collection was quick and we would never tolerate big sums
like these not being collected. Our lawyers would be after the
defaulters."
After mulling over this string of denials noseweek contacted Nair
again with another question: Did he ever meet with Imran Ismail? We
added that we held a statement saying that he was with Ismail when
they escorted the syndicate's money-launderer Michael Addinall to
Johannesburg International Airport on 28 February 2002, to make sure
he exited the country safely. (Ismail had a wide circle of paid
contacts at the airport to ease unrecorded comings and goings and the
smooth running of his smuggling operation).
Faced with this, there was a subtle swing in Nair's response: "If your
intention is to expose Imran, Michael (syndicate money-launderer
Michael Addinall) or Jackie, there is very little I can offer you, as
I have had little dealings with any of them."
Little dealings. Well, at least he admits that he knew them.
According to X, Nair was finally dismissed from WG by Gautam Kunzru,
placing his SA residence status in jeopardy - for the first six months
he worked at WG without a work permit. The problem was quickly
resolved by the resourceful Imran Ismail, who used his contacts in
high places to push through permanent residence for Nair.
When Abraham left, his shares and directorship were taken over by
their man in Botswana, Ashindra Latchman. Latchman tells noseweek he
knows little about what happened in Johannesburg, as he was in
Botswana most of the time. But he confirms that he did meet Ismail on
his many visits to Nair's office. "He came so often we got to be
friends, but I haven't seen him for some time," says Latchman.
"I don't know what they discussed or whether Nair paid him - they met
behind closed doors," he says. " Latchman cannot ever recall meeting
Selebi, but he did meet Gauteng commissioner Maharaj - when he came to
visit Nair.
These days Imran Ismail spends most of his time in India's Mumbai. But
a month ago he was back briefly in SA. Simon Manana, a well-connected
businessman and friend of both Steven Ferrer and Jackie Selebi, met
him and has told friends that Ismail is currently "in disguise, with a
huge beard - he looks like an ayatollah".
As for WG Electronics, the bulk of the company's debts after it was
plundered by Imran Ismail and Sudir Nair were borne by Kunzru. "Kunzru
and I had signed sureties with the State Bank of India," says
Abrahams. "We factored our debtors through the bank.
"At the end the bank was in for R7.5m, but since Kunzru was the major
stakeholder they let me off the hook. Kunzru also stood surety for the
purchasing in Singapore, so altogether he was in for about R20m.
(Kunzru's core company in Singapore, Elan Impex, was wound up
following a petition by that country's receiver, in 2004.)
"I lost my initial R1m investment," laments Stanley Abrahams, "and I
had to pay off my credit cards and a debt to First National of R300
000, for which I had signed surety. I lost R1,5m."
X says that WG was placed in liquidation by the State Bank of India's
Johannesburg branch, but CEO Vijay Jasuja says he can only confirm
that the WG account is closed. The Register of Companies in Pretoria,
however says its records indicate that the company is still in
business. n
http://www.noseweek.co.za/article.php?current_article=1403
Dawood Ibrahim
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Dawood Ibrahim
Wanted Dawood Ibrahim by Interpol
Born December 31, 1955
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra India
Spouse Zubeena Zareen (Mehajabeen)
Dawood Ibrahim (also known as Dawood Ebrahim and Sheikh Dawood Hassan,
birth name Sheikh Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar), born in Ratnagiri, India was
the former Don of the organized crime syndicate D-Company in Mumbai,
which operated as a notorious terrorist organisation. He is currently
on the wanted list of Interpol for terrorism, organised crime,
counterfeiting, and Crimes against Public.[1]
He is accused of heading a vast, sprawling illegal empire, acquiring
money and political clout. His name has become a byword in political,
business and law enforcement circles in the manner of Al Capone and
Osama Bin Laden. After the Bombay Blasts in 1993, which Ibrahim
organized and financed, he became India's most wanted man. He is said
to have moved from the UAE to Pakistan during the ensuing controversy.
In 2003, the United States Government declared Dawood Ibrahim a
"Global Terrorist" and pursued the matter before the United Nations in
an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his
operations after significant diplomatic lobbying by the government of
India. The Bush Administration, under advisement from the Indian
Government, has imposed sanctions on Ibrahim[1]. Although Pakistan
denies any knowledge of his existence, Interpol has provided a list of
his Pakistani addresses and passport numbers [2].