Iuze Mukube
The trial of a group of businessmen accused of allegedly defrauding the finance ministry of N$3.5 billion in revenue, has been accorded trial dates.
This follows an order of Deputy Judge President Hannelie Prinsloo last Friday for the accused’ trial to begin on 20 January 2026.
The accused are Namibian national Laurensius Julius and Chinese businessmen Tao Huizhong, Yuiqua Haung, Zhihua Gao, Hongying Jia, Coa Shuhua, Li Dan, Ying Zhang and seven other entities.
They face several counts of fraud, theft, tax evasion and money laundering. It was alleged that the finance ministry lost a significant amount as a result of understating the worth of the products brought into Namibia, for which customs taxes were due. Further investigations, particularly by the Bank of Namibia, revealed that Namibia was losing significant sums of foreign currency, and that N$3.5 billion was being shipped out of the country through Julius’ Extreme Customs Clearing Services. Investigators discovered that goods were over-declared at the bank and under-declared at customs, costing Namibia billions of dollars in losses. The evidence showed that the amount allegedly paid to foreign recipients did not match the amount on the invoices, and there was a significant discrepancy between the amount presented at the bank for deposit and that shown at customs for clearance. Accordingly, it is said a sizeable sum had been transferred to offshore accounts via a local bank. All the accused, who are mostly out on bail, are expected to appear for the commencement of their trial from 20 January 2026 to 20 February 2026. Further dates that were given by Prinsloo for the trial were 2-20 March, 30 March to 17 April and 27 April to 30 April 2026.
The accused are represented by Dirk Conradie, Sisa Namandje and Louis du Pisani, while the State was represented by Henry Muhongo.