Tycoon takes fight for Bluebird Aviation to the Supreme Court

Bluebird Aviation tycoon Yussuf Adan has taken the battle for control of the charter airline to the Supreme Court after he failed to have the 27-year-old firm wound up in the lower courts.

Mr Adan, who claims to own 25 per cent of the charter airline, has been locked in a vicious legal fight with three other shareholders and executives — Hussein Farah, Unshur Mohamed and Mohamed Abdikadir.

The airline has a fleet of more than 21 airplanes.

The tycoon filed the court petition seeking to wind up Bluebird in March 2016, claiming that the other three directors excluded him from the company’s affairs, misappropriated funds, failed to hold shareholder meeting and never paid him a dividend.

Regarding his latest application to the Supreme Court, Mr Adan must show proof that the dispute is of public interest or that he is seeking a constitutional interpretation for the matter to be heard.

His fellow directors, in court documents, dismissed him as a reckless shareholder keen on damaging the firm and the reputation of its directors to pressure them to buy him out on his terms.

“That it is abundantly clear that the plaintiff is only interested to shut down the operation of the company to enforce a personal right,” Mr Mohamed told the court.

The three shareholders also dismissed Mr Adan’s claim that he had been excluded from Bluebird’s affairs, saying he had opted to remain an absentee director.

“All he did is to admire the sweat, tears and efforts of the defendants,” they said in court documents.

The fellow directors said Mr Adan failed to offer proof of theft at Bluebird, arguing it was impossible to siphon and transport more than Sh1 billion physically for deposits and investments in banks in Western capitals without being detected under current global money laundering rules.

The shareholders argued that Bluebird’s books of accounts audited by Deloitte have always been available for Mr Adan’s inspection despite the tycoon’s claim that he has no knowledge of the firm’s financial records.

The airline, they said, grown to be the second-largest carrier behind Kenya Airways through sound management and not fraud, offering dividends to Mr Adan that has allowed him to own multi-billion shilling property in Nairobi.

Dividend cheques to Mr Adan were presented in court to show proof of payment.

Court documents reveal that Mr Adan owns Lenana Towers along Lenana Rd, Yala Towers on Koinage Street, apartments on Riara road as well as Hong Kong, Bangkok and Medina shopping complexes in Eastleigh.