Maria Amakali
Legal trouble seems to follow British businessman and murder-accused, Harvey Boulter everywhere he goes as a group of Emiratis claim he defrauded them out of more than N$56.9 million.
The group, which comprises of Ahmed Mohammed Abdul Aziz Al-Othman, Abdul Ilah Mohammed Abdul Aziz, Badr Mohammed Abdul Aziz Al-Othman, Badriya Saleh Abdullah Al-Madini, Mohammed Abdullah Muhammad Al-Hamdani, and their company Tabarak Trading and Contracting LLC want the Namibian courts to compel Boulter to adhere to the court order issued by the Dubai Courts of First Instance on 27 July 2020.
According to that court order, Boulter and his company, Porton Managers GLT were ordered to pay back N$56.5 million – money they had invested in Boulter’s companies; Managers GLT, Portion Group of Companies, Enigma Diego LtD, and Communication Security Group Ike. The group, through their Namibian representative Sedaki Belhadri, claim Boulter lied that his companies were successful and made huge profits. Thus, they would get good returns if they were to invest in them by buying shares. The group claims that after they transferred the funds to Boulter, through Lloyds TSB Bank in Dubai, they learned he unlawfully transferred the money to a British law firm.
Aggrieved, the parties approached the court in Dubai where they were granted the order against Boulter of repayment. However, before the order could be carried out, Boulter allegedly fled to Namibia which does not have an extradition agreement with Dubai. “It is only until March 2021 that the first respondent’s (Boulter) whereabouts became known to the parties by some unfortunate incident which was widely published in newspapers and online articles. A quick online search of the first respondent reveals quite a number of online articles published about the unfortunate incident,” said Belhadri.
In March 2021, Boulter was arrested for shooting and killing his farm manager, Gerhard van Wyk on his sprawling farm in the Kamanjab area.
He has since been indicted with charges of murder, possession of a firearm, and ammunition without a licence, and handling a firearm while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
Boulter’s lawyer, Sisa Namandje has indicated their intent to defend the suit and has since asked the court to condone their late filing.
Yesterday, Windhoek High Court judge Claudia Claasen postponed the ruling for the condonation application to 26 May.
For Van Wyk’s murder, Boulter faces a N$84.5 million lawsuit filed by the family of his deceased farm manager. In the suit, the family claims they were primarily dependent on Van Wyk’s income that he received as a manager for Boulter’s farm in Outjo. Van Wyk’s widow Alta claims after the death of her husband, Boulter’s company unlawfully terminated her employment as co-manager. She claims she and Van Wyk received a monthly salary of N$27 500.
Their son Gerhard and his wife Liani were also unlawfully fired from their jobs where they made a combined income of N$25 000 monthly.
Alta wants Boulter and his business to pay her N$49.9 million in total, including N$32.8 million for the loss of her husband’s support and N$16 million in general damages.
Van Wyk Jr is claiming N$22.6 million for loss of support and general damages. While Michelle, who was allegedly dependent on the father financially while attending school at the University of Namibia, wants payment of N$8 million. Liani is claiming compensation of N$3.9 million.
Boulter, who has claimed innocence, citing the killing was not intentional, is currently fighting against the prosecutor general Martha Imalwa’s decision to indict him and to continue prosecuting him on the said charges. He claims Imalwa failed to properly consider the matter before indicting him.
Imalwa has since indicated her intention to oppose Boulter’s application. The review application has since been postponed to 19 June for case management.
Proceedings in the criminal case in the High Court have been put on pause and have since been postponed to 20 July to wait for the outcome of the review application against Imalwa’s decision.
-mamakali@nepc.com.na