International lawyer Nick Kaufman has represented the Gaddafi children, defended Democratic Republic of Congo leader Jean-Pierre Bemba against war crimes and has Imelda Marcos as a client.
This year, Kaufman takes on one of his most difficult foes—Interpol. The lawyer is petitioning the international criminal police organization, headquartered in Lyon, France, to strike the name of a flamboyant African entrepreneur off its list—an uphill battle, to say the least.
The entrepreneur in question is 33-year-old Zimbabwean financier and money lender, Frank Buyanga, who is trapped in his adopted country of South Africa for as long as his name is on the list.
Buyanga, the son of a former Zimbabwean civil servant who was born in London, owns a Rolls-Royce, two Lamborghinis, an Aston Martin DB9 and a Bentley Continental. He lives in a luxury penthouse at the Michelangelo Towers, in the heart of Sandton, Johannesburg, and rubs shoulders with celebrities such as former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes.
Interpol issued Buyanga with a so-called “red notice” in February 2012. This is issued to a person subject to an arrest warrant or one who is required to serve a sentence. While the notice is in force, police in most countries in the world can question the person and look into extradition.
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“I saw a news article about it while I was in Equatorial Guinea. Someone sent me a link on my e-mail,” says Buyanga.
This year, police stopped Buyanga at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, on his way to Zambia on business, after the red notice had flashed on the check-in screen. Detectives questioned Buyanga for four hours and sent him home.
According to Interpol’s press office, it does not comment on when or why a notice is released. In Buyanga’s case, they directed FORBES AFRICA to the Zimbabwean government. The office also confirmed the red notice is valid until the requesting country has asked for it to be removed.
“It’s also affecting my business. When I am trading with banks or start trading with people, once they see that I am on Interpol they close the bank accounts and that’s it,” says Buyanga.
At the root of it all is Buyanga’s money lending business in Zimbabwe. He says he graduated with a degree in economics from North London University in 2004 and moved to Zimbabwe in 2005, where he set up a stable of companies, including a licensed lending arm, Hamilton Finance. This was the land where Frank Buyanga senior worked as an assistant secretary in the ministry of trade in the Zimbabwean government. A scandal over missing funds forced Buyanga senior to resign.
“His father, despite his unceremonious exit from the trade ministry, didn’t live as much a controversial life as his son. He was more laid back, and a bit reclusive, but he ran many businesses around the city. He was a businessman through and through, even from his younger days, we certainly knew he would cut his teeth in business. When he returned from London in the 1990s, that is what he exactly did,” says a close relative, who declined to be named.
In a limping economy, short of hard cash, people are drawn to lending like to a cold drink in the desert.
Buyanga’s borrowers secured their loans with their homes. Every now and again, defaulters refused to give up their houses, leading to litigation and growing disgruntlement. To make matters worse, a couple of the defaulters Buyanga took to court were high ranking politicians. The Zimbabwean government called the loans a sham and police investigated.
“They used to arrest me and keep me inside, without recording the arrest, then I would be released. Then someone who is relatives with the police would come and say ‘Frank just sign off the property or the assets and we will let you go,’” says Buyanga.
“Frank is a colorful character. People don’t like success stories, especially from people who show their wealth,” says Kaufman
In October 2010, the Zimbabwean police closed the case, but in 2012 came the litigation against a high profile politician and the police appear to have changed their tune.
“Buyanga has a case to answer. He should report to the Zimbabwe police,” says the Zimbabwean police spokesperson, Charity Charamba.
Kaufman has not ruled out approaching the Zimbabwean government, but has petitioned Interpol to remove Buyanga’s name from the list.
“We have made a petition arguing that the Interpol red notice does not meet the requirements. We are arguing that it offends the Interpol constitution in that it is tainted by political motives. Secondly, it offends the rules of Interpol in that it is essentially designed to coerce a resolution to what is effectively a civil case,” he says.
It can take months for Interpol to rule on the petition. It doesn’t have to give reasons for its decision and there is no appeal.
“It’s a serious defamation of character, when you have somebody who is presumed innocent then his photograph appears with the likes of Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen, then that in itself has an effect on a legitimate businessman who is trying to conduct activities,” says Kaufman.
This case is one of many high profile legal battles taken up by Kaufman, who was born in Liverpool and raised in Birmingham. He studied law at Cambridge and became a barrister. His first case was at Birmingham Crown Court, where he defended a woman accused of stealing £50 ($76) from the handbag of a friend during a hen night. The woman elected a jury trial, Kaufman won and she walked with a conditional discharge. Kaufman also spent two years as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
More than 20 years after Birmingham Crown Court, Kaufman, who lives in Israel, has traveled the world fighting big-name cases. In the Gaddafi case, he has filed an application by the former Libyan leader’s daughter, Aisha, calling for the ICC to investigate the death of her father.
The Buyanga case may not be as grave, but it promises to be as drawn out and emotional.
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