WINDHOEK – One of the accused in the MVA fraud trial claimed that she did not know that one could claim compensation when a family member dies in a motor vehicle accident. She later broke down and cried in court that the case had ruined her life.
Linda Shipalanga, 38, told Acting Judge Alvin Simpson that she first heard about this practice after some people in the north told her that she could claim from the MVA Fund after her husband perished in a motor vehicle accident in 2000. Shipalanga was paid an amount of N$186 029, which the prosecution is alleging was the result of fraud.
According to the charge sheet the MVA Fund was informed that Shipalanga was not employed at the time of her husband’s death, while in fact she was gainfully employed at the Ministry of Defence. This, the prosecution says, and the fact that her husband’s monthly salary was allegedly inflated to boost the amount to be paid out to her, amounts to fraud or alternatively theft. She denied all the allegations.
She said that after she made an initial visit to Ondangwa-based lawyer Arumugam Thambapillay’s office in Ondangwa and opened a file, she telephonically received instructions from his secretary.
According to her she never informed Thambapillay that she was unemployed or a housewife and she merely signed the documents prepared by Thambapillay when asked to.
She said that she did not know what kind of damages were available, but was only informed that there was an office that assisted people who lost loved ones through road accidents. She told the court that she never pretended to be deprived of an income or not having an income.
“I did not steal any money, that money was given to me because my husband died in a car accident,” she told the judge.
At the end of her testimony when her lawyer, Amupanda Khamanya, asked her if she had anything else to say Shipalanga burst out in tears and said the case has destroyed her life.
She said her colleagues are afraid of her and treats her like a criminal. “My name has been appearing in newspapers and over the radio and TV,” she cried and told the judge that she just wants the trial to be finalised so that she can get on with her life.
Shipalanga and Thambapillay, 65, are accused together with Martin Eriki, 78, Timoteus Amutenya Sakeus, 44, Festus Shindume, 38, George Hatutale, 64, and Onesmus Sheehama, 48, of defrauding the MVA Fund of N$3.5 million.
Thambapillay faces 16 charges consisting of six main charges of fraud, seven counts of forgery and uttering, two counts of theft and a charge of attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice. His co-accused are each charged with between one and five counts, with each of them facing at least one charge of fraud.
State Advocate Ed Marondedze appeared on behalf of the State, Advocate Louis Botes represents Thambapillay, while the other accused are represented by Bradley Basson and Elias Shikongo. All of the accused remain free on bail.