Court in Somalia bars Prime Minister from wiring back seized funds to UAE

Court in Somalia bars Prime Minister from wiring back seized funds to UAE

Source: Sunday January 30, 2022

MOGADISHU (HOL) – A court in Mogadishu has stopped the country’s Prime Minister Mohamed Roble from returning $9.6m seized by security forces in 2018 to UAE shortly after the PM left for the Gulf nation.

Banaadir Regional Court issued the order few hours after Roble boarded a plane to UAE in what sources said was a trip meant to finalise the return of the money.

In the order today, the court sitting Mogadishu said the money will not be returned until investigations on the circumstances surrounding its arrival in the country are concluded.
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PM Roble announced early this month that the money which was seized at Aden Adde Airport on June 18, 2018 would be returned to UAE.

However President Mohamed Farmaajo dismissed the PM’s directive noting the funds were illegally wired into the country and will therefore not be returned.

The court order is expected to open another rift between Farmaajo and Roble who have publicly differed on several issues.

The agenda of the PM’s visit to UAE was not immediately clear but sources said the seized funds would be a subject of discussion  and the resetting of relations between the two countries.