Villa Group unable to pay salaries
21 May 2015, 4:54 PM
Hassan Mohamed
Opposition politician Gasim Ibrahim’s Villa Group has announced it will not be able to pay salaries of more than 4,500 employees after the government froze its accounts last week over unpaid fines.
The conglomerate – which operates businesses in shipping, import and export, retail, tourism, fishing, media, communications, transport, and education – says the government’s US$90.4million claim is unlawful and is contesting it at the civil court.
The opposition says the government is targeting Gasim’s businesses because of his split from the ruling coalition in January.
“This company’s revenue has suffered since last November. The struggle to balance the company has been brought to a halt by the government propaganda’s, blatant lies and the freezing of our accounts,” managing director Ibrahim Siyad Gasim said in a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday.
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