30 2GM Monday June 29 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Until last year his profile read “The Bil-
lionaire Gucci master” but he changed
it to “real estate developer” after the
arrest of an associate.
A video uploaded by Dubai police of
Mr Abbas looking startled and in hand-
cuffs after his arrest on June 10 is now
being cited in west Africa as a caution-
ary tale. According to media reports,
the FBI will be seeking to extradite Mr
Abbas and some of his alleged accom-
plices to America because many of the
victims were US citizens.
Since the election of PresidentA Nigerian influencer who attracted
millions of followers by posting selfies
from private jets and photographs of his
collections of luxury cars, shoes and
watches has been arrested amid claims
of a £350 million cyberscam.
Officers from the FBI and Interpol
seized more than £30 million in cash
when they swooped on the Dubai
apartment of Raymond Abbas, 38, as he
slept. Investigators say the Instagram
star, known to his fans as Hushpuppi,
had projected a billionaire, jet-setting
lifestyle to help to “lure victims from all
over the world”.
Twelve others were arrested in co-
ordinated raids for their alleged parts in
a complex online racket. Investigators
are believed to have found the email ad-
dresses of nearly two million
victims on dozens of
phones, computers and
hard drives taken from
the gang during the
operation. A fleet of
luxury cars was also
seized, along with
suitcases stuffed
with cash.
“The suspects
targeted victims
overseas by creating
fake websites for well-
known companies and
banks in a bid to steal vic-
tims’ credit card information
and then launder the stolen
money,” Brigadier Jamal al-Jalaf, of
Dubai Police CID, said.
Mr Abbas, who once posted a video of
himself throwing $100 bills as confetti
at a wedding, is also accused of commit-
ting fraud in Europe, America and
Nigeria, police said.
The operation, codenamed Fox
Hunt 2, came after months of investiga-
tions into the gang’s activities, with de-
tectives using the boasts of the suspects
on social media to help to track their
locations. According to Dubai media
reports, the gang’s latest swindle was
linked to a £28 million deal involving
ventilators for Covid-19 patients.
Nigerians had long speculated over
Mr Abbas’s apparently slick progress
from a secondhand-clothes trader in
Lagos to a billionaire property develop-
er among the skyscrapers of Dubai. In
defence of his extravagance he said that
he had hoped to motivate others on
their own rags-to-riches journeys.
“I post a few of these things so that
someone can see my page someday and
decide not to give up,” he told his
2.4 million followers on Instagram.African rival
strikes down
rigged ballot
Malawi
Jane Flanagan
Malawians celebrated the swearing in
of a new president after a unique rerun
of a rigged election that has revived
hopes for African democracy.
The defeat of the incumbent leader,
known as the Tipp-Ex president after
tampered tally sheets secured him a
second term, marked the first time a
vote overturned by an African court
has led to a rival coming to power.
Cities in towns across the southern
African state lit up with celebrations
after election officials confirmed that
Lazarus Chakwera, 65, had soundly
beaten Peter Mutharika, 79. As he was
sworn in, Mr Chakwera, a former
preacher who challenged the results of
the May 2019 presidential ballot in the
courts, urged reconciliation in “a new
Malawi” to supporters of his opponent.
His win, with 2.6 million votes out of
4.4 million cast, followed months of
street protests. As it struck down the
outcome citing evidence of widespread
tampering, including the use of
correction fluid on ballots, the constitu-
tional court ordered a rerun. It was the
second time in Africa that a court has
overturned a presidential election,
after a ruling on Kenya’s vote in 2017.
That rerun delivered the same result for
President Kenyatta.
To explain the outcome analysts
have cited Mr Chakwera’s political
savviness — he persuaded a popular ri-
val to become his running mate — and
the independence of Malawi’s judiciary.
The events in the former British
colony, which won independence in
1964, have reverberated across Africa
where protests over elections are typi-
cally put down and results are not chal-
lenged by the courts. The justices of the
constitutional court now wear bullet-
proof vests after they received death
threats and offers of cash bribes to
rubber stamp Mr Mutharika’s victory.
Mr Mutharika, who studied law at
the University of London and at Yale
University, is unlikely to concede with
dignity. He said: “This election is the
worst in Malawi’s history.”Nigerian Instagram star held in
Dubai over £350m cyberscam
Buhari last year on a promise to stamp
out corruption, Nigeria’s government
has expressed embarrassment about
the sleazy reputation the nation has
built since its citizens pioneered email
stings which typically involved impecu-
nious princes and the lure of a fortune.
“The action of a single Nigerian is not
the action of all Nigerians... who are
hardworking and honest people. We
should not be tagged ‘fraudulent
people’ for the misdeeds of a few,” a
spokesman for Mr Buhari said.
Mr Abbas has yet to comment.Nigeria
Jane Flanagan
Raymond Abbas, known online as Hushpuppi, said he wanted to motivate others on a rags-to-riches journeywo million
ns of
and
om
el-
and
l vic-
rmation
the stolen
Jamal al-Jalaf of linked to a £28 millionRRRRaymond AO
n a film set near Rome
last week the Irish actor
Aidan Turner, sporting
tights and a long beard,
was getting into
character as the Renaissance
genius Leonardo da Vinci, near the
hand-sanitiser dispenser. Along analleyway on the set, 15th-century
soldiers were loitering in armour,
looking totally authentic except for
their bright blue surgical masks.
“These days the director yells,
‘Lights, camera, action and take
your mask off !” joked Luca
Bernabei, head of the production
company Lux Vide.
Filming of the TV series
Leonardo restarted on June 15, the
first big production in Italy to do so
as the country emerges from
lockdown, and the studio is taking
no chances with Covid-19,
swabbing all 800 members of the
crew and staff before they are
allowed on set. To get access, I was
taken in a sanitised studio car to aRome hospital the day before my
visit and swabbed to check I was
negative, and that was just the start.
Anyone entering the studio at
Formello, among them the British
actor Freddie Highmore, must pass
daily through a corridor where they
are sprayed with disinfectant vapour
and have their temperature taken. A
sticky material underfoot disinfects
the soles of shoes. Beyond that is a
medical booth where staff are
blood-tested every fortnight, while
the 35 crew members working in
close proximity to the actors are
also swabbed once a week to check
if they are positive, with the results
ready in 15 minutes.
Masks are still widely worn on set
by crew, but the actors are allowed
to kiss, hug and generally get close
to each other during scenes.
“The other industry taking these
kind of precautions is professional
football, which is also a kind of
theatre,” Mr Bernabei says.
It reminds me how the
pornographic film business has been
taking its HIV testing on set
seriously since the 1990s, which is
why it has offered Hollywood its
experience in the war on Covid-19.
Heading into the studio, we pass
make-up rooms where brushes,combs and other kit are bathed in
ultra-violet light overnight to
sanitise them. On set, we enter
Leonardo’s studio. “Props are
sprayed with ozone which kills
bacteria, and this room is sprayed
every night with disinfectant,” says
Corrado Trionfera, executive
producer.
Turner, who rose to fame in
Poldark, will explore the enigmatic
character of Leonardo in a series
that charts the polymath’s career,
from his apprenticeship to thepainting of the Mona Lisa.
As we turn into an alley to find
the crew and actors — all
swabbed and blood-tested —
working with Turner on his scene,
I realise it is the first time in
months I have felt comfortable
standing in a crowd.
“The testing protocols and
speed of results here have
reopened the world,” Daniel
Percival, the British director, says.
“The UK is behind on this and is
nowhere near ready.”
The safeguards have added 15
per cent to the budget, but it is
worth it for Lux Vide and its co-
producers on Leonardo, which
include Italy’s state television
network RAI.
RAI is reopening other sets,
including Un Posto al Sole, a daily
soap opera. Protocols are not as
draconian as on the Leonardo set,
but actors will keep a distance
from each other. “We can use
filming tricks to make actors seem
closer, but we cannot have more
than three people on set in a scene
at a time,” Francesco Nardella,
deputy head of RAI Fiction, said.
“For now there are no kisses and
no hugs, just plenty of intense
stares.”Aidan Turner plays the Renaissance
genius in the TV series LeonardoTom Kington
ROMEFROM OUR
CORRESPONDENT
Lockdown restrictions are finally easing,
and for Italian film and TV studios that
means the show can go on