Moti returns to South Africa

Businessman, Zunaid Moti has been released.

MOTI Group of Companies (MGC) chairmain Zunaid Moti has been released from provisional detention in Munich, Germany, following the cancellation of an arrest warrant issued in the Russian Federation.
The billionaire – who spent about four months in provisional detention – was stopped from departing Munich Airport and detained after German authorities acting on a Diffusion Notice first issued in the Russian Federation – at the behest of a known member of the Russian mafia – in December 2017.
Moti’s spokesperson confirmed his release in Germany and return to South Africa noting the withdrawal of the arrest warrant rendered the basis for Moti’s detention in Germany obsolete leading to his release on last week.
“The full exoneration makes the fact of his detention in Germany all the more unacceptable, and we expect a thorough investigation of how this failure of justice was perpetuated in country calling itself a first-world democracy,” the businessman’s mouthpiece said.
The release follows an earlier formal notice from the General Secretariat of Interpol in November 2018 which confirmed that Moti – with vast business interests in Zimbabwe – was not the subject of any Red Notice, Diffusion Notice or international arrest warrant.
According to his team, Moti has been subject “to a litany of spurious and fraudulent claims made by a known member of the Russian Mafia, presently resident in Dubai.”
“A first attempt to abuse Interpol’s arrest mechanisms was made in August 2017 when this member of the Russian mafia conspired with rogue elements of law enforcement in Lebanon to issue a ‘Red Notice’ for Moti and a number of colleagues.
“The baseless claims upon which that Notice was issued were dismissed by Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) in a directive issued on 15th December 2017, confirming that all data concerning Moti would be blocked on its systems,” the billionaire’s legal team said.
Another attempt was made in January 2018, when the same member of the Russian mafia, this time acting through known proxies, conspired with rogue elements of the judiciary in Moscow to issue a ‘Diffusion Notice’ naming the African Chrome Fields boss.
“Again, the baseless claims upon which that notice was issued were dismissed by Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) in a directive issued on 13th August 2018.
“It has been clear that the alleged charges emanating from Russia, the Diffusion Notice and any extradition request are a complete fabrication and part of a continued stratagem adopted by the Russian Mafia to extort payment by Moti of substantial sums of money,” the legal team said.