Monday August 2, 2021
NAIROBI (HOL) - Somalia’s state minister for finance, Mohamed Hayir Ibrahim, filed a lawsuit against a Canadian researcher and author, Jay Bahadur, in Kenya over claims the respondent hacked his email during an investigation on illegal fishing in Somalia.
According to court filings published by the Daily Nation in Kenya, Ibrahim also claims that his life is in danger. Alongside Bahadur, the Somali minister alleged to be holding a Kenyan passport, is enjoining the Swiss-based NGO Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime Giato (GI-TOC).
“The respondents approached me requesting information regarding my work details and other engagements but having noted that the respondents’ request was without basis, I disregarded them. The respondents, however, went further and hacked into my email accounts and obtained crucial information regarding my personal life, in bad faith,” Ibrahim claims in the lawsuit.
Noting that Bahadur and GI-TOC illegally obtained information from him, Ibrahim contends, “ I currently fear for my life, and I am not my free agent. I am unable to carry out my activities freely as I used to.”
According to a report published by Bahadur and GI-TOC in June, the ministries of fisheries at the federal level and Puntland government either collude or operate separately in facilitating or taking part in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in Somali waters.
The report claims that Ibrahim facilitates the operations of a fishing company called North East Fishing Company (NEFCO), founded by his two cousins in Puntland, by issuing clearance certificates against the law.
The report adds that Ibrahim formerly worked for NEFCO before being appointed a federal minister.
“NEFCO had a well-placed entry point into the federal government: the FGS State Minister of Finance, Mohamud Hayir Ibrahim, a Puntland native and cousin of NEFCO director Captain Isse,” the report notes.