Conflict of Interest Marred Somalia’s Secret Asset Recovery Campaign

[Deeq A.]

Mogadishu (PP Features) — In 2010 the Transitional Federal Government was battling Al-shabaab forces in the capital. The new government, formed in 2009 after a deal between the Alliance of the Reliberation of Somalia and TFG, had another goal: to identify Somalia’s frozen assets in foreign banks, and print Somali shillings. ARS leaders dominated the new Parliament.

The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia approached a former Central Bank Governor to advise on recovering frozen assets.  The United States Government has indicted Jeremy Wyeth Schulman, a lawyer, for fraudulently in obtaining “control over money and gold”, bank fraud and money laundering.  Abdiaziz Hassan Amalo, a Co-Conspirator, mentioned in an indictment against an American attorney, is a relative of Ali Abdi Amalo, a former Central Bank Governor appointed in 1991 by the United Somali Congress. Abdiaziz Amalo  allegedly ran Haden Global Services to which Schulman wired money as a part of a deal “to enrich themselves from the scheme to defraud by taking a portion of fraudulently obtained assets in fees and commissions before sending  the remainder to the Somali Government”. The Federal Government of Somalia retained asset recovery services of Schulman and successfully recovered liquid assets now deposited in a Turkish Bank.  

In 2010 Wardheernews, a news website, translated from Arabic, a report on “secret documents linking  Transitional Federal Government to a planned recovery of frozen financial assets in foreign banks.”  “A collection of secret documents, obtained by  Asharq Al-awsat from  the office of the president of the TFG, sheikh  Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has revealed concerted efforts by the President to  use an American Law Firm to reclaim frozen Somali assets held in Swiss  Banks since the collapse of the rule of the deposed President of  Somalia Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991” reads the report.

President Sharif Ahmed (left) and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (far right) authorised the secret asset recovery plan that landed Jeremy W. Schulman (middle) in trouble for embezzlement. (Photo credit: WSJ).

   

The transitional status of the government was a handicap to the asset recovery plan. The first post-transition Federal Government of Somalia carried on with asset recovery effort but initially faced setbacks. In 2012 Caasimada, a news website, reported, a major multilateral organisation had blocked the government’s initiative to repatriate frozen assets.   The Federal Government relied on the former Central Bank Governor to identify frozen assets.  It is not clear if he had a role in the appointment of Schulman as the attorney representing the Somali Government. What has become abundantly clear is how family relationships helped Abdiaziz  Amalo to make false representations including the description of the former Central Bank Governor as an incumbent Governor at one point and a member of a committee tasked with asset recovery.

Schulman has wired money to an account controlled by Amalo. In July 2010 the Transitional Federal Government wrote a letter refuting that the former Central Bank Governor had been appointed as a Director of the Federal Financial Asset Recovery and Banking Affairs.  Despite the clarification of the role of the former Central Bank Governor, the Transitional Federal Government was content with the services of the law firm. Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan was the Finance Minister of the Transitional Government. The finance ministry was aware of the asset recovery plan. Neither the Transitional Federal Government nor the post-transition government disclosed the asset recovery plan to the parliament and Federal Member States.  American authorities rejected attempts by Schulman to  gain  control over Somali assets on grounds that only  Somalia’s President  can delegate such authority to a third party.

 The legal suit against Schulman and Amalo raises questions about judgement of Somali presidential candidates under whose watch a fraudulent scheme to misappropriate Somalia’s frozen assets was conceived and executed. “Two presidential candidates, Hussein Abdi Halane, former Finance Minister, and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan along with two former President Somali Presidents,  Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud,  have a lot of explaining to do” says a Mogadishu-based political analyst.  Recovery of frozen asset recovery will likely dominate the Somali elections planned to take place in February 2021. “The old regime is keen to return to power but the indictment of Amalo and Schulman unsettles some Somali presidential candidates, and rightly so” added the political analyst. The Somali Federal Government is under pressure to release a statement on Somalia’s frozen assets and why due diligence was not carried out on the law firm appointed by successive Somali governments to identify and help repatriate Somalia’s assets in foreign banks.                                                    

© Puntland Post, 2020 

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