Former Track-It chief fights to stop arrest by Interpol
Workers outside the Track-It offices in 2009. File
What you need to know:
The former MD says he has been holed up in Dubai since 2010 when Interpol listed him as a wanted fugitive on its website.
A former managing director of security surveillance firm Track-It, Shezad Tejani, is fighting to have his name deleted from the international police (Interpol’s) list of runaway criminals.
Mr Tejani has, through his brother-in-law Karim Lalani, moved to court in a bid to stop Interpol from arresting him on grounds of obtaining goods through false pretences and issuing bad cheques.
The former MD says he has been holed up in Dubai since 2010 when Interpol listed him as a wanted fugitive on its website.
“He is unable to bring this petition in his own name as he has been in Dubai since 2010, and is domiciled there. Since the publishing of the red alert, Mr Tejani has been unable to travel to Kenya. He is listed as a wanted fugitive for reasons he is neither aware of nor responsible for,” said Mr Lalani in his petition.
Interpol was yesterday granted seven days by High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi to file a response and serve Mr Lalani’s advocates. “Mr Lalani will then have seven days to file his reply to Interpol’s response. The hearing will be on July 18,” said Lady Justice Ngugi.
Track-It’s business was in 2009 hit by bad publicity following claims that tracking devices that it fitted on people’s vehicles were fake. The firm’s management at the time attributed the bad press to business rivalry.
Mr Lalani has accused Interpol of refusing to furnish his lawyers with proper information as to why Mr Tejani is listed as a wanted man. In correspondence with the international policing agency, the former MD was informed that he is wanted for obtaining goods through false pretences and issuing bad cheques.
“Interpol replied to one of our letters in which they said the complainant in the matter he is wanted for is Amin Mulji, and that they had been warranted by the Director of Public Prosecutions to list him as a wanted fugitive,” said Mr Lalani.
Upon requesting particulars on the red alert, he added, Interpol referred him to the investigating officer at Central Police Station, and that they have been unable to get any more information.
“Our advocates wrote to the officer in charge of investigations at Central Police Station in April, but to this day they have not shown any authorisation from the DPP to warrant the issuance of the red alert against Mr Tejani,” added Mr Lalani.
