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A family member of a South African couple freed from Somali pirates has denied that a ransom was been paid for their release, contradicting an earlier statement by another family member.
Nora Wright, the sister of one of the hostages, Bruno Pelizzari, said 500-thousand dollars in ransom had been agreed on with the pirates two weeks ago, but she was unaware of any money being paid to secure their release.
Wright is one of the three signatories to the bank account set up by the family to raise the demanded ransom and said she and a second signatory had not signed off on any payments.
The third signatory has departed for Rome.
Pelizzari and his partner Debbie Calitz were sailing off the coast of Kenya in 2010 when their yacht was hijacked by 12 pirates who set course for Somalia.
Somali authorities said a joint raid by security forces and the army had led to the freeing of the couple from "Al-Qaeda-affiliated" insurgents.
South Africa said Italy was also heavily involved in the operation.
