The businessman, the high-interest loan and the pallets of cash to be collected in Dubai
Alande Safi borrowed $5m for 10 days. When he failed to pay back the loan - or its interest - the lender took him to court.
The businessman, the high-interest loan and the pallets of cash to be collected in Dubai
A once high-flying Australian businessman has had his assets frozen after a judge described as “highly unusual” and possibly “illegitimate” his offer to repay a $US7.25 million loan by way of cash to be collected at various unspecified locations in Dubai.
For years, Alande Mustafa Safi, 44, has been promoting a $7 billion privately owned international airport to be constructed on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Alande Mustafa Safi in 2017 at the site of the proposed new airport south-east of Melbourne. Credit: Daniel Pockett
In 2017, he claimed he had obtained funding from a consortium based in Europe and the Middle East, which he said had built a number of airports.
Without identifying his development partner, Safi told the Herald and The Age at the time: “We’re literally going to build and say, ‘Here it is’.”
Cargo flights could begin by 2020 with commercial domestic and international services operating by 2022, Safi said.
But the airport has not materialised and in October last year, Safi – who runs a mortgage and lending business through his Melbourne-based Paragon group of companies – was spruiking a short-term investment opportunity to a company in Mauritius, First Class Securities Limited (FCSL).
The high-interest loan, which was for just 10 business days, involved a debt facility for the “South East Melbourne Airport Project,” the Federal Court heard.
FCSL, which provides brokerage services to fund managers and high net worth individuals worldwide, is suing Safi and his companies over the unpaid loan.
Last week, Federal Court Justice Yaseen Shariff said, “At first blush, the arrangement is one that appears almost too good to be true” in that FCSL was guaranteed a return of $US2.75 million for the 10-day loan of $US5 million.
“That is an extraordinary arrangement with an extraordinary guaranteed return,” said the judge, who added that he initially “had some doubt as to the genuineness of the arrangement” but the evidence satisfied him that it was the case.
The court heard that Safi, who is believed to be in Dubai, proffered several “highly suspicious and irregular arrangements” for the repayment of the money, none of which eventuated.
Safi initially repaid $500,000, leaving $US7.2 million owing since November 5. On that day, he sent a message to the Mauritian company attaching a supposed bank confirmation that the funds were being transferred and would be cleared within 24 to 48 hours. This did not occur.