Leading Money transfer company Dahabshiil plans to launch a criminal complaint against a blogger who has been publishing fake news stories about the company.
The blogger, Mr Dahir Alasow, owner of “Waagacusub Media”, has used various websites to carry out a long-running attack on Dahabshiil.
Late last month the Dutch Court of Appeal (‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands) ruled on Dahabshiil’s latest claim against Alasow in relation to the publication of various defamatory articles.
The claim follows Dahabshiil’s recent wins before the Dutch District Court and the Dutch Supreme Court, which did not deter Mr Alasow from continuing to publish new stories with the apparent aim of smearing Dahabshiil’s reputation.
The Court of Appeal, in this most recent case, declined to rule, however, finding that the matter was too complicated for the Dutch preliminary relief procedure.
Instead, it suggested that Dahabshiil should pursue Alasow via a full court claim or through the criminal system.
In a statement in their official website the company stated: “Dahabshiil takes due note of the Court of Appeal’s suggestion that it could pursue the case via other routes and fully intends to do so.
“However, we also note that the same Court of Appeal in earlier proceedings ruled that claims of this kind were suitable for preliminary relief against Mr Alasow, so we are considering taking the matter to the Dutch Supreme Court.”
Dahabshiil has a presence in over 100 countries, including Kenya and works with numerous blue chip organisations.
For reasons which are not understood, Mr. Alasow has published a string of stories about the company.
Previously the court of Breda and the Dutch Supreme Court had ruled in favour of Dahabshiil, declaring evidence presented by Mr Alasow to be fabricated and that the allegations he had published were “lacking factual support”.
The court order, reviewed by the Court of Appeal last month, related to a series of claims made by Mr. Alasow on his blogger sites and asked him to publish rectifications for 12 months.
Dahabshiil has taken Mr Alasow to court for defamation on three separate occasions, first bringing legal proceedings in November 2010.
Prior to this most recent judgement, on December 16, 2014, the court of appeal ruled that Mr. Alasow’s allegations were defamatory against the firm and should not have been published.
As a result, the court ordered him to remove various articles and publish a full retraction, in Somali as well as English, confirming the unsubstantiated and damaging nature of those claims. The court also ordered the blogger to send a rectification email in similar terms to a large group of people that he contacted several years ago with similar allegations.
