Lawyer quizzed over ‘unusual’ land deals

Tuesday
November 8,  2011

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Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi. Photo/FILE 

By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, November 7  2011 at  22:30

A lawyer was on Monday taken to task over the manner in which he handled land transactions in Somalia.

Mr Ahmednasir Abdullahi admitted under cross-examination in a Nairobi court that he signed a sale agreement for a piece of land in Somalia which did not bear the seller’s passport number or physical address.

He said he did not know the location of the land or properties on it and that his law firm agreed to facilitate the transfer after the seller showed evidence of ownership.

Asked why he did the transactions without verifying the existence of the assets, Mr Abdullahi said Somalis trust each other and this kind of transaction was not unusual.

Mr Abdullahi was giving evidence in a case in which Mr Abdi Hosh Ashkir is charged with obtaining $50,000 (Sh5 million) by false pretences.

Mr Ashkir allegedly obtained the money from Mr Bashir Diriye Shariff in February 1997 by pretending that he could sell him land in Mogadishu.

He has denied the charge and is on Sh300,000 bail.

Though he denied meeting Mr Abdullahi, the lawyer testified that Mr Ashkir came to his office to sign the papers.

Mr Abdullahi said his firm had done many transactions involving land in Somalia, and particularly in Mogadishu.

He said on February 18 1997, Mr Diriye instructed him to draw up a sale agreement for a one square kilometre piece of land in Mogadishu.

“I drafted the agreement which was executed in my presence on payment of US$50,000. Both parties signed the agreement and I witnessed it,” said the lawyer.

He said in September 2006, he was told there was a dispute over the piece of land and Mr Ashkir wanted to sell it to another party.

He said he has done thousands of such transactions in 16 years and none has raised questions. Hearing continues on December 6.