Zambia returns SA jet swept up in gold scheme

‘THE OWNER AND IBIS AIR SUFFERED HUGE LOSSES BECAUSE THE JET WAS OUT OF COMMISSION FOR EIGHT MONTHS’

An SA aviation company allegedly involved in a gold smuggling scheme has had its business jet returned after a Zambian court ruled that the seizure of the aircraft was unprocedural.

The Bombardier Global Express jet, valued at about $14m, arrived at Lanseria Airport last week after an order from Zambia’s economic and financial crimes court.

“We battled the seizure of the jet for eight months. The Zambians wanted the court to forfeit it as an instrument of crime,” said Baher Al-Damasy, the MD of Ibis Air, the managing company that handled the chartering of the jet.

“In the end we won the case using Zambian laws to prove that the investigators at the airport did not act in accordance with procedures. They didn’t have a warrant to seize the jet.

“The Zambian law also distinguishes between the property and the premises of a criminal act. The Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act describes the jet as premises and not property, but we had nothing to do with whatever our client [allegedly] did wrong.”

The jet was seized by the Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission in August 2023 after it arrived at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka from Cairo.

According to an earlier statement by the commission, its investigators received a tip-off that the jet was loaded with illegal cargo. Authorities seized $5.6m in cash, 602 bars of what was thought to be gold, five pistols with ammunition and a machine for measuring gold. The bars turned out to be gold-plated brass used in a scam the commission has been investigating.

An Egyptian business person, Mike Botros, who has interests in SA and who chartered the jet, was detained along with the crew of four.

The commission also attached another aircraft and arrested five Zambians. That aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air, was allegedly used to transport the cargo to the airport as Botros, a gold dealer, was in Zambia to buy the precious metal.

The state alleged in court the crew declared there was no cargo on the jet’s flight plan back to Egypt, making them conspirators to commit crime.

Five Zambians — business person Sedrick Kasanda; pilot Patrick Kawanu jnr; Jim Belemu, Mahogany Air’s CEO; Robson Moonga; and Francis Mateyo — are standing trial in the Lusaka high court on charges of espionage.

The jet belongs to an Egyptian national, Ibrahim Hassan, and is registered with the San Marino Civil Aviation Authority.

Al-Damasy says the jet is usually based in the Middle East, from where it is chartered.

During the trial, drug enforcement agency assistant commissioner Martin Chitamba charged that on the day of the seizure Botros voluntarily signed a statement that he was aware that he engaged in illegal activities. Botros also surrendered the jet and all the cargo as “penance” and could therefore not deny he had voluntarily engaged in illegal gold transactions.

Chitamba said Botros did not declare the firearms and dollars, even though he stated that he was in Zambia to buy gold. Botros would have been aware that it is necessary to declare such items and he would have followed the legal declaration process if the money was meant for a business transaction.

As such, he also could not distance himself from the illegal cargo, Chitamba said.

Botros and the two crews were released soon after being detained and returned to their home base. Botros later said in a television interview that some of the money was missing.

“If they [the commission] had a warrant they would have had the right to seize whatever was on board, but not the jet itself.

“If the owner was also on board, they could have seized the jet too because then he would have been complicit in the act. But the owner was in Egypt and I was in SA and we only provided our service to the client,” Al-Damasy said.

After the seizure, Al-Damasy said he applied to Bombardier to undertake checks and maintenance while it was impounded.

“We sent a team every three weeks to make sure it was all done according to Bombardier’s instructions. It is in perfect condition,” he added.

“The owner and Ibis Air suffered huge losses because the jet was out of commission for eight months. Apart from that, all of us implicated in the case also suffered reputational damages.”