Family fears for Gadaffi loot hunter
Taha Buishi’s family believe he has been kidnapped by a rival group claiming to have the Libyan government’s mandate to repatriate money supposedly hidden in SA.
|||Johannesburg - The family of Libyan loot hunter Taha Buishi are alleging that he, together with his company lawyer, have been kidnapped by a group known as the Washington African Consulting Group (WACG), which has claimed it was mandated by the Libyan government to repatriate money that is believed to be in South Africa.
Buishi – the chief executive of SamSerj, another company that claims to have authority from the Libyan government to trace assets hidden by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – was kidnapped on August 9 together with lawyer Omran Jarbiou.
His daughter Sama told The Sunday Independent that she believed WACG, led by Erik Goaied, was responsible for her father’s kidnapping because they had twice made death threats.
Buishi, a Libyan national who has previously met South African government ministers in an effort to secure the billions of rand, diamonds and gold, was allegedly kidnapped at Al Abraq Airport in Bayda, Libya.
Sama said her family were taking her father’s disappearance hard. “As a family we are doing our best to hold ourselves together. We just need to hear our father’s voice to know that he is okay and that he is still alive. We are not able to sleep at night worrying about the terrible horrors our father is facing every day.”
She said Buishi was travelling with his company lawyer, Jarbiou, when their cellphones were switched off “in a very strange way when they entered the departure area”. She said both men were abducted by militias when they entered the airport.
Buishi is the second figure linked to the hunt for the Libyan billions to be kidnapped.
Mohammed Tag from Libya’s asset recovery board, who said WACG was the only company mandated by the Libyan government to act on its behalf, was kidnapped three months ago. He is believed to be in the hands of right-wing Muslim groups.
Last year, The Sunday Independent reported how about R2 trillion in US dollars, hundreds of tons of gold and 6 million carats of diamonds were ferried to South Africa during Gaddafi’s last days.
But Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the investigation into allegations about the Libyan money had been completed and the docket handed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
However, NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said nothing came of the investigation as the information was unreliable.
The Sunday Independent