MINING CHIEF DEPORTED
A COMBINED team of officers from the Zambia police and Immigration Department yesterday deported Gemcanton Investments Holdings Limited chief executive officer Eli Nefussy in unexplained circumstances after confiscating all his documents, including his passport.
This comes barely a week after one of the shareholders, allegedly fired him from the company after persistent differences.
Mr. Nefussy’s lawyer, Dickson Jere, confirmed the development to the Daily Nation saying his client was early in the morning picked from his house in mine compound in Lufwanyama and taken to an unknown place where he was kept until 15:00 when they took him to Ndola International Airport and forced him on to a Kenyan Airline destined for Ethiopia.
Mr. Jere expressed shock that his client had been deported when he was legally in the country and had not committed any offence.
“I received a call from him around 07:00 telling me that there were 12 people in plain clothes claiming they were from the Zambia Police and Immigration Department who had come to pick him and that they had confiscated all his documents including the passport.
“It was only around 16:00 when I received another call from him saying he had been put on a Kenya Airline flight to Addis Ababa. He does not know where he was kept the whole day. He is not Ethiopian and I wonder how they expect him to live after confiscating all his documents. They just wanted him to be out of the country,” Mr. Jere complained.
But sources in Lufwanyama told the Daily Nation that the fight between Mr. Nefussy and Mr. Ndiaye could have necessitated his deportation as he (Mr. Nefussy) allegedly objected to the idea of employing over 100 Senegalese as security guards as well as the selling of emeralds on the black market without proper account of the company’s revenue. “Before the Israeli company bought half of the shares in this company, it was solely owned and operated by the Senegalese under the name Grizzly Emerald Mine. After selling the shares, the company changed its name to Gemcanton Emerald Mine and when Mr. Nefussy came in as CEO, he objected to the idea of employing Senegalese as guards saying these jobs should be a preserve for Zambians.
“He also objected to the selling of emeralds on the black market and opted to auction the mineral. He further directed that there was need for the company to keep a clean record of its operations so that the company could have a clear tax record to avoid fighting with Zambian authorities,” the source said.
The source said as a result of the new measures which went against the previous operations of Grizzly, Mr. Nefussy and one of the shareholders became sworn enemies.
“Mr. Nefussy only returned to Zambia last week. Some people within the company had accused him of having killed an illegal miner. Police investigated this matter and cleared him of any wrong doing and records are there with the Inspector General of police. When he came back on Monday last week, the same shareholder incited miners to riot and claim that they do not want to work with him.
“The miners refused because they looked at all the good things the company had done for them after the Israelis bought shares and that is how another way was hatched to ensure that he is removed from the company. The same shareholder actually told Mr. Nefussy that he was well connected and warned that he would fix him,” the source said.
When contacted for a comment, Copperbelt police commissioner Charity Katanga referred all queries to the Immigration Department while Immigration public relations officer Namati Nshinka could not confirm the development saying he had just come into the office.