The phenomenon that is Michael Ezra continues to grow, and so does the mystery.
Daily Monitor has learnt that the 34-year-old tycoon has ordered an Airbus A380 (Prestige) private jet and reportedly paid a mind-boggling $260m for it.
Ezra is currently in the French city of Toulouse, the home of Airbus, where he made the payment on April 30th. David Velupillai, Airbus' Marketing Director for Executive and Private Aviation, confirmed that the French aeronautical giants had embarked on building a private aircraft for Mr Ezra.
"We have met with Michael, have had discussions with him and come to a preliminary agreement," an initially reluctant Velupillai told Daily Monitor yesterday.
Supply is limited yet there are many orders, so people have to wait," Velupillai added on further prompting. "We never reveal the details of individual deals, all I can say is that the least price for an Airbus A380 is $320m. However, it is different for private customers."
Mr Ezra's plane is expected to be ready in 2010. And after it has been fully built, the customer will then incur an extra cost believed to be around $150m for an executive plane interior to be developed, bringing the total cost of jet to a whooping $410m. With space of 531 square metres, the A380 is the largest commercial airliner in the world built to carry 525 people in the standard three-class configuration, or 853 people in an all-economy setting.
The A380s ordered by commercial airliners have been late by several months to take to the skies due to production delays, but modifications for private ones are going on. For instance, the interior of Mr Ezra's plane will be built to have an office, full satellite communication equipment, a conference room for 12 persons, a karaoke room, a movie room, a gymnasium, medical centre, four self-contained VIP bedrooms, another four executive bedrooms, as well as a spa.
The lower deck of the aircraft, which is reserved for cargo in passenger airliners, will have living quarters for flight attendants and enough space to ferry as many as three saloon cars while staying within its take off weight of 560 tonnes.
Ezra is reportedly only the second person in the world to place an order for an A380 to be used as a private jet. The only other order was from Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, the fifth richest man in the world who was supposed to build a five-star hotel where Shimoni Demonstration School once stood in Kampala.
Ezra's plane, which is likely to be registered in Dubai where he does most of his business, will have a total flight life of 140,000 hours or 25 years and will be able to fly between Dubai and New York, a distance of about 16 hours, without re-fuelling.
It's not the first time Ezra's exclusive lifestyle has left Ugandans in a spin. In September 2006, he paid $250,000 (Sh450 million at the exchange rate then) for an exclusive Centennial Mont Blanc watch, the only one of its kind in the world. It was part of an Emirates charity promotion to help disadvantaged children of the world.
In September last year, the tycoon flew by private chopper from Nairobi to catch Uganda Cranes' final Africa Cup of Nations match with Niger. He rewarded the team with $100,000 (Sh180m) for winning that game, even if they didn't qualify for Ghana 2008.
Comments 1 to 4 of 4 Post a comment
this is one step for man and giant reap for africa go micheal go ezra.by the end of the day its not how good you are in class but the contribution you making according to your name.ezra you have impressed me for making it a reality. where are all the dreamers like the decade of 60s you are among them.ezra you are a hero on the parade.
ladies and gentlemen lets be happy of what ezra is to do. if we can not be happy of what ezra is to remember lizard in achebe's book when he fell from the tree,no body was there to say congrats. he did it by himself
roots kampala
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
HOW EZRA SURVIVED SEAN CON JOB The truth about Sean Wrought revealed
BY CLAUDE MUHIGIRWA OMG Editor
The story of Michael Ezras reported 13 billion shilling scam has taken a surprising twist. The Red Pepper has reliably learnt that Sean Gregory Wrought, the American who claimed that Ezra had conned him of his life savings, is actually a jilted former employee looking for revenge. Wrought owns a briefcase company called Onset TV/NextGen Media which deals in video compression and online programming in Portland Oregon, USA. He was hired by Michael Ezra to help in the setup of an online platform under a company called EGT, also registered in Portland. But Wrought was fired less than two months into his tenure because Ezras company classified him as an unnecessary financial burden. He has a child suffering from Autism, a debilitating mental condition that affects a persons ability to communicate, who was escalating the companys medical insurance bill. Wrought is also a lavish spender who runs heavy hotel bills and whose phone (+13105980574) was cut off over accumulated unpaid bills. When he was fired, Wrought embarked on a revenge mission that eventually led him to Red Pepper. While still and employee of EGT, he intercepted private documents, which included a photocopy of Ezras passport and the companys Articles of Oganisation, which were meant to be received by Maribel D Nuanes, assistant vice president of JP Morgan Chase Bank Canyon Road, Chula Vista, Carlifornia. The bank had demanded these documents from Ezra for the establishment of an online account. The bank got to the Ezra Team wondering why a copy of his passport hadnt been sent. It wasnt until a copy of Ezras passport was sent to the Red Pepper that the Ugandan realised that it had been nicked by Wrought.
Warned by MI-eZ Team? In his touching confession to the Red Pepper, Wrought claims that he was warned not to deal with Ezra by a group called MI-eZ Team. The Red Pepper has since established that MI-eZ is a short form of Michael Ezra and the Team which Wrought claims warned him is actually Ezras group. In one of the letters, the MI-eZ team told Wrought: We are sorry we would not give a go ahead to our chairman over your venture (the online platform). This is because we did thorough due diligence on your claims both within and outside the US and we found untruthfulness . Having failed to convince Ezras team to pass his idea, Wrought went for the top man himself. Through an internet search, he got to know about Red Pepper and read a sensational story in which a company called MITTICO claims to have been issued with a bad cheque by a company associated with Ezra. Wrought found it the right platform to carry out his blackmail. On August 14, the American internet con artist sent an Email through Ezras official website. It read: Hello Michael, I have had several calls from a company calling themselves Red Pepper. They are asking questions which I have not answered. I need to know if you asked them to call me and who they are. On the contrary, it was the American who contacted Red Pepper claiming he had some damaging information about Michael Ezra. Our revelations reveal that Wrought is a struggling man whose company has total assets of $8,893 in one account and $4 on another.
Not the first time This is not the first time Wrought is conning or trying to con and blackmail someone. A few months ago, he almost run a lady called Marilyn Crawford, the president of Windsor PTM, a company operating out of New York, broke claiming he was going to do online platforms for her before using the information she gave him for that purpose to blackmail her. Wrought first got to know about Ezra through Windsor PTM, of which the Ugandan tycoon is a listed client. In Ezras case, the information Wrought used in his blackmail exercise are a copy of Ezras passport and private photographs showing Ezra and some friends in a jet. Those photographs, which he sent to Red Pepper, were in the custody of Windsor PTM and Wrought used his online expertise to craftily acquire them off their system. Interestingly, Wrought claims to be one of the people who appear with Ezra in the jet in the pictures. A clear look at the pictures shows that Wrought is not one of them. Indeed, some of our readers found it funny that an American can fall for a story that he is being taken to space by an African. Arent Americans supposed to know more about these things than us? Either Wrought is the biggest fool on earth or his story is rich in lies.