How secret offshore accounts sparked war among Popat sons

The millions of shillings that businessman Abdulkarim Popat left in secret offshore accounts at the time of his death four years ago was the spark that triggered the bitter succession war among his three sons, we can reveal.

Details of the raging multi-billion shilling succession war have emerged from court papers Alnashir Popat, the second of the three Popat sons, has filed against his brothers Adil and Azim in the Royal Court of Guernsey.

Alnashir, who was the principal shareholder and chairman of collapsed Imperial Bank, is seeking the court’s backing for his claim to one third of the assets and cash that the family has kept in offshore accounts since 1966.

Abdulkarim initially kept his family’s offshore wealth in the Almancil Trust, an entity he registered in Guernsey, and which Alnashir now says was unknown to him until 2015.

Alnashir now says he did not give any authority to Adil to stash his share of the offshore wealth in the Almancil Trust.

He also claims Adil in 2007 shut down the Almancil Trust and moved all assets held in it to a new platform — the Kalys Trust without his conscent.

“At no point from when the Almancil settlement was established did Alnashir give his consent to Adil to transfer any of his proprietary interest in the offshore wealth. Adil is liable to account and pay to Alnashir all benefits and gains past and future made by Abdulkarim and Adil or transferred to any third parties, including but not limited to members of the Popat family,” Alnashir says in court papers.

The assets include secret bank accounts, securities, bonds and real estate interests in London, Canada, and Portugal whose total value is yet to be ascertained.

The Popat family has since 1966 received what Alnashir terms as “massive rebates” from car maker Mitsubishi for vehicle sales made through the Adil - owned Simba Colt Motors — and which have also been kept in the trusts.

The rebates have been received through Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Fuso Bus and Truck Company and Sumitomo Corporation, which manufactures Isuzu pick-ups and lorries.

Adil and Azim are yet to respond to the amended suit that Alnashir filed in Gibraltar on September 2.

Alnashir claims that only Adil knows the value of the Popat family’s offshore empire, but that his younger brother has remained tightlipped about it.

Refusal

Documents filed in the Guernsey Court’s Ordinary Division have revealed that the rivalry dates back to 2004, nine years before the death of the family patriarch — Abdulkarim Popat.

Alnashir says he opted to leave the family business in 2007 following Adil’s continued refusal to disclose the extent of the family’s offshore wealth and how much he was entitled to.

“Abdulkarim was offended by Alnashir’s decision to leave the family business and stated that he would purchase Alnashir’s shareholding, but that as to the offshore wealth trust Alnashir “could get lost”. This disagreement was never resolved.”

“Adil and Azim’s dealings with the offshore wealth have at all material times been secretive and have resulted in Adil and possibly Azim benefitting disproportionately from the offshore wealth trust at the expense of Alnashir,” says the former Imperial Bank chairman.

The brothers are also locked in a Mombasa High Court suit in which Canada-based Azim has challenged their father’s will. Adil has in the suit held that Alnashir and their father had a frosty relationship.

Alnashir claims that Popat senior and Adil were the only family members who served as trustees in offshore trusts, including the one in Guernsey, holding the family’s riches.

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The Guernsey court documents further indicate that Adil has maintained control of the offshore wealth through three other trusts. The three trusts were also registered as trustees of the main Almancil Trust. They are Viking Trust Company Limited, Ceaser Trust Company Limited and Louvre Trust Company Limited.

Louvre Trust Company Limited last year sent a letter to Alnashir, being one of the beneficiaries, a move that led to his discovery of the offshore trusts.

The former Imperial Bank chairman sold his interest in Simba Colt Motors and Simba Motors to his father for Sh1.05 billion in March 2007. He, however, maintains that he did not receive one third of the offshore wealth that he had also demanded when exiting the family business.

Despite pushing his father and Adil for detailed accounts of the offshore assets between 2004 and 2006, Alnashir was not furnished with the information and he decided to take his piece of the empire and set on a separate path from the rest of the family.

Abdulkarim’s death in 2013 left Adil as the sole trustee in the family offshore wealth trusts, leaving him as the sole custodian of detailed information on the wealth. Alnashir was excluded from his father’s Kenyan will as he had already received his piece of the family cake.

Some of the family’s interests abroad include commercial and residential buildings in London, shares in Canada’s Millgate Limited, Penrose Properties, Maple Rose Best Western Hotel, a shopping complex, Hotel Lisboa in Portugal.

Dividends from a 20 per cent stake in an unnamed cable factory have also been stashed offshore. Alnashir holds that he bought the 20 per cent stake in the Ugandan cable firm.

The family also had several real estate and hotel interests in London, Canada and Portugal that have since been sold owing to poor performance.