A CYPRUS-BASED British businessman wanted by Interpol and his UK partner, who is banned from entry to the island, are involved in a suspect $4 billion scheme to develop a massive resort complex in Zanzibar.
According to an article published in today’s Observer newspaper in London, Nicosia-based businessman Tom Wells is a major shareholder in a company called East African Development which has been leased land from the Zanzibar authorities to construct a huge self-contained tourist metropolis.
The 70 square kilometre stretch of land has been leased for the princely sum of £1 on the promise that several hotels, golf courses, an airport and a port will be built on it and provide much-needed local jobs.
Wells, who was born in Belfast, was a director of the Isle of Man-based company along with his wife Maria, but he has resigned recently in the wake of a fraud conviction in Oman. But he confirmed he would remain the major shareholder.
“I will not do anything to hurt the company or the project,” he told the Observer.
His partner Patrick O’Sullivan, who the Observer reports runs operations from Hampshire, was barred from entering Cyprus several years ago after being placed on the stop list.
O’Sullivan, previously a frequent visitor to Cyprus and a house owner in Tochni village, was convicted of fraud in Britain and served a jail term.
It was shortly after his release in 1995 that he was refused entry to Cyprus, where he had set up a business in Limassol.
The Cyprus Mail has possession of the Interpol arrest warrant issued for Wells by the Oman authorities.
He was convicted in absentia of issuing dud cheques and sentenced to one year in prison.
But Wells told the Observer that he would be settling the case this weekend through his lawyers in Muscat, the Omani capital, and that it would be dropped and the warrant withdrawn.
Wells told the paper that he has backing for the scheme and that $4 billion has been placed in a London bank account.
Who the investors are and where the money has come from was not however made clear by the businessman.
He insisted the money was just one bank transfer away and would arrive by last Tuesday.
But as of yesterday he was still unaware of which bank account the money was in, the Observer said.
Wells did reveal, however, that he had found his generous backers via the Internet but that he was satisfied they could deliver.
“They have all the right credibilities. The money is 1,000 per cent there,” he told the newspaper.
The article suggests that the government of Zanzibar contact the World Bank’s Investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
A spokesman for the organisation said it was aware of the project and was not impressed.
“We would not have participated. It is far too big a project for an island the size of Zanzibar, and we know of no companies involved of sufficient international reputation to begin and run it,” the spokesman said.
