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Karl Stagno-Navarra
Wherever she sails, she’s raising eyebrows and being photographed as an “added tourist attraction”, with its latest destination being Isola d’Elba’s exclusive Portoferrario harbour.
Flying a Maltese flag, the 27-metre luxurious, powerful motorboat displays a full face figure of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara on her bow, while a graphic reproducing Che’s signature is splashed onto both sides of the sleek white and blue cruiser.
The ‘Che Guevara 2’ is property of soccer-crazy Al Saadi Mootsam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and is currently enjoying his summer cruising exclusive ports in the Mediterranean from Isola d’Elba to the Cote Azure and Costa Smeralda.
Observers claim it to be odd that the son of a head of state sails a Malta-flagged boat. Moreover, it is odd to see Che Guevara and the Maltese flag together.
Al Saadi fronts Lafico, the Libyan-Arab Foreign Investments Company that focuses on various interests in Malta.
Sources close to the Malta Maritime Authority have declined to confirm if the boat is registered under Lafico or Al Saadi’s personal name.
Al Saadi, who sat on the Juventus FC board of directors after Lafico acquired a 5.3 per cent stake in the Turin club in 2002, is a frequent visitor to Malta.
Flamboyant in character, Al Saadi was a registered footballer with Serie A teams Perugia, and later with Udinese in 2003-2004.
His expensive lifestyle and playboy reputation attracts plenty of media attention, with paparazzi chasing him in the company of known personalities, super-models and movie actresses.
ksnavarra@mediatoday.com.mt
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