Windhoek
“The Boswell Circus has left.”
This was said by defence counsel Gilroy Kasper when he presented his arguments in the Section 174 application for his clients’ discharge in the fraud and theft trial of the missing Social Security Commission millions currently ongoing in the Windhoek High Court.
Kasper is representing local lawyer Otniel Podewiltz, and Sharon Blaauw and her husband Ralph Blaauw.
According to him much hype and sensation were stirred up in the matter to the extent that the accused became demonised and vilified by the media and members of the public who believed that the accused, in particular 1 to 6, actually benefitted from the N$30 million.
He continued that after the State closed its case much of the hype and sensation died down and only one thing remains to be said and that is that the Boswell Circus has left.
However, Kasper said, the names of the accused remain “tarnished” and their lives are in limbo. According to Kasper, the State failed dismally in its efforts to prove even one allegation against the accused. In fact, he said, no prima facie case was made out against the accused and in his view the court has no option other than to dismiss the charges against them.
“My Lord,” he told Judge Christi Liebenberg, “to put the accused persons on their defence when no evidence was presented against them is tantamount to causing them to make a case against themselves when none existed before.”
Kasper said the widow Kandara “riddled” the court with inadmissible hearsay evidence and innuendos and made such a poor witness that her testimony cannot be accepted.
Furthermore, he said, the duty rests squarely on the State to prove beyond any reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused and it is not for the accused to be put on their defence in the fervent hope that their versions will supplement the State’s case.
He said that no evidence was led that proves that either of his clients committed any of the offences preferred against them. He further said that no evidence was led to prove that his clients had any knowledge of the N$30 million being transferred into the business account of Avid and that it was subsequently thereafter within a period of two days improperly transferred. As did Sisa Namandje who appears on behalf of Paulus Ilonga Kapia, the first accused, he puts the blame for the ill-fated investment squarely on the shoulders of the management team of the Social Security Commission.
Slysken Makando who appears for Accused 7, Nico Josea, similarly informed the court that no offence has been proven against his client. He said that no evidence was presented that any person from SSC ever had any dealings with him (Josea) or his company Namangol Investments.
He said that Josea was not aware that the money paid into Namangol’s account belonged to the SSC, but that Josea was waiting for money to be paid to him by Alan Rosenberg as part of a settlement agreement.
“Other than mere speculation and opinions of witnesses in the matter, there is no evidence that was presented in this court to establish the casual link between the N$30 million of Social Security Commission, which was transferred into Avid, and the money paid into Namangol’s account by attorney, Greyling of South Africa.” He said that nothing precluded Josea to disburse with the money as he did, since it was money that belonged to Namangol. The matter was postponed to June 24 June 2015 for the State to present its arguments.