Interpol Notice against Indian-origin Businessmen over Rare Diamond

Interpol has issued red notices for four Indian-origin businessmen in South Africa regarding a legal battle over a Rs.2.5 billion rare pink diamond. A Russian telecommunications tycoon and a local diamond dealer have accused Zunaid Moti, his father Abbas Aboo Baker Moti and their associates Ashruf Kaka and Salim Bobat, of stealing the diamond from them.

Red Notices Issued

The red notices follow a two-year tripartite legal battle that took place in courts in France, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Dubai, The Times reported. Moti and associates have now taken the case to Pretoria High Court to fight the warrants.

A red notice is an international alert issued by Interpol seeking the location and arrest of a wanted person for extradition.

‘Fraudulent’ Papers

The four businessmen claimed that the papers that Russian businessman Alibek Issaev showed in court, accusing them of theft of the diamond, were obtained by fraud. They have asked the local court to stop the execution of the Interpol warrants.

The police and judicial authorities in South Africa have confirmed that no warrants or extradition notices for the four businessmen had been received until now.

Claim to be Wrongly Accused

The businessmen have accused Issaev, who was a former business partner in their company, of stealing the diamond from them by lying about a potential buyer in Russia.

Complicating the case further, international diamond dealer Sylla Moussa accused the four Indian-origin men of stealing the same diamond from him in 2003. But according to Kaka, Moussa had given them the diamond as payment of a debt and had even given them a letter of surety.

Kaka further told The Times that Issaev got the Interpol warrants issued against them by the Lebanese authorities in retaliation for an Interpol arrest warrant that they had got issued against him when a business deal went wrong in Zimbabwe.

Paul O’Sullivan, a private investigator hired by the Indian-origin businessmen, said that his clients had never been to Lebanon. They have requested the court to defer the warrants “pending the outcome of our matter with Interpol’s oversight body in Lyon and the court cases which we have running in Lebanon, where we are challenging the original arrest warrants, Zimbabwe and Dubai,” PTI reported.