KZN businessman unfazed by latest US sanctions
|Published
A sign outside of the United States Department of the Treasury. File Picture: Reuters
A Durban businessman, whose business accounts were frozen early this year because of suspicions that he is associated with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), says he is not surprised that the US government has slapped him with further sanctions.
Farhad Hoomer spoke to The Mercury yesterday, just a day after the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that it was imposing further sanctions on him and others whom it said were suspected of providing financial, technical and material support to the terrorist group.
Hoomer accused the American authorities of not knowing what they were doing and simply going after innocent individuals in an effort to be seen to be fighting terrorists.
“Honestly I do not know what the American government wants from me. They are going after me as I am a soft target and there is no reason for these sanctions because I am not even working since my accounts were closed early this year,” he said.
He indicated that when his accounts were frozen, his businesses, which focused on gold and diamond processing, stopped after 25 years of operating.
The end result of freezing his accounts had seen more than 200 people who had been employed by his companies losing their jobs.
The US sanctions were also imposed on brothers Nufael Akbar and Yunus Mohamad Akbar and two others – Mohamad Akbar and Umar Akbar.
Hoomer said he believed that the brothers were targeted because one of his daughters had married into the Akbar family.
The Durban businessman denied any involvement with Isis or any terrorist activities.
He noted that at some point the ANC had been referred to as a terrorist organisation by some Western countries while it was fighting for freedom.
“The fact is that I am not an Isis member, but my point is that what some people may regard as a terrorist may be a freedom fighter for others,” he said.
He expressed his disappointment with the conduct of the South African government in allowing the US to do as it pleased in the country. He indicated that he was suing the government for R157 million over his arrest in October 2018, where he was charged in connection with an attack at a Verulam mosque and bomb scares at some outlets. The case was struck off the roll in July 2020.
He added that he was also in the process of suing the American government next year.
According to Hoomer, US agents had interrogated one of his wives and his daughter in Morocco and did a similar thing with another wife in Tunisia.
“South Africa is a democratic country. When such treatment of freezing my accounts was meted out against me, it was quite disappointing.”
He confirmed that he was in Morocco and would be back in South Africa next month.
The Durban businessman also claimed to have been followed by US agents when he was in Russia on a business trip between September and October. “I was exploring possibilities of (bringing) diesel and petrol to the South African market when it was indicated to me that Federal Bureau of Investigations individuals were tailing me,” he said.
None of the Akbars could be reached for comment yesterday.