High Court judge, Justice Happias Zhou has ruled that the controversial businessman, Jamal Joseph Ahmed is not a fugitive of justice and has the power of attorney to represent him on the trial he is suing former business partner Petros Chaponda over two cars.
By Problem Masau
Chaponda through his lawyer, Advocate Thabani Mpofu had objected to Ahmed’s use of power of attorney saying he was a fugitive of justice after he alleged conned First lady, Grace Mugabe of almost $1.4 million in a botched diamond ring deal.
“The reason why he is still holed in Belgium is that he afraid to come here because he knows that he will be arrested. According to the law, a fugitive of justice can not seek legal recourse,” argued Mpofu.
However, Ahmed’s lawyer, Jonathan Samkange argued that Ahmed is not coming back because he knows that powerful politicians abuse their powers to harass civilians.
“He is afraid of coming back because he knows that he will be unlawfully arrested, he did not run away from justice but decided to stay because of his own safety,” he said.
Justice Zhou concurred with Samkange saying there was no evidence proffered to show that he was a fugitive of justice.
However, investigations by this reporter show that the Belgium based Lebanese national has a controversial past.
Contrary to court records which enlist him as a Lebanese national, this publication can exclusively reveal that Ahmed is a holder of a British passport ( Number 705070651)and his country of birth is Sierra Leone.
According to documents in our possession, he applied for a local residence permit in 2007 and he was born on June 22, 1964 in the town of Kenema, Sierra Leone.
According to the records, he is a fugitive in his country of birth over alleged illicit diamond dealings
He married Zeina Mackie, a Sierra Leone British citizen on December 17 1991.
What raises a stink is that their three children have different nationalities with Anatascia and Ravanne being Americans and Zachary a Belgian citizen.
“Ahmed is believed to be an international dealer, just look at the different nationalities of his children and he works in cahoots with his wife, just like in the First Lady case, his wife Zeina was the bait,” revealed our source.
