Blackmailed former Continental Oil boss flees Zambia

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 09:10:15 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO

PROPRIETOR of liquidated Continental Oil, Muktar Omar Mahamud, has fled Zambia after one of h  is former employees blackmailed and accused him of stealing K 800,000 money which he lent the same worker to start his own business.

But his family has vowed to make sure he returned to Zambia because he did not do anything wrong.

Mr. Mahamud, who was the chairman of Continental Oil, brought in a fellow Somalian, to Zambia and introduced him to the family business and when he had enough experience in the oil sector, he lent him K800, 000 to start his own business.

Mr. Mahamud’s son, Assad, told the Daily Nation yesterday that according to the agreement, the gentleman was supposed to pay back the money as soon as his business picked up so that he could stand on his own.

The named Somalian national issued a cheque in the sum of K800, 000 in favour of Mr. Mahamud as per agreement.

But when Mr Mahamud withdrew the K800, 000 he was reported to police and accused him of having stolen his money.

Due to alleged connections established during his business transactions, the former employee allegedly started pursuing his former boss with threats of having him deported from Zambia for allegedly stealing his money.

Due to pressure, Mr. Mahamud fled Zambia about three months ago but his family has vowed that they will not rest until justice prevailed, alleging that the named gentleman came to Zambia from Somalia without anything but that he made a fortune out of Continental Oil’s generosity.

“My dad has fled the country because authorities are following him after, the person he helped to be what he is today, blackmailed him,

“He expected the family to forego the money he was lent and now he is using his connections to portray a picture that my father is a criminal. We have stayed in Zambia for a long time and we have done clean businesses,

“If he thinks he will get away with this, he is mistaken because we will produce documentary evidence to expose him. The same authorities he is using will be ashamed when they discover what kind of a person this man is. At the right time, we shall expose him so that people can judge from the evidence we have,” Assad warned.

He appealed to relevant authorities in Zambia not to be used as tools to punish his father without any case, saying the man they were siding with was a chancer and that the criminal tag branded on his father was unfortunate and unwarranted.

“Dad has not done nothing wrong and should not be forced to live in other countries like a fugitive. His investments and his family are here,

“We have remained in Zambia because there is nothing wrong we have done and our only appeal to the people he is using is not to be blinded by the money he is using to wage a war against my father.