Windhoek
The lawyer for the second accused in the fraud and theft trial on the missing Social Security Commission (SSC) millions currently in the Windhoek High Court said his client Inez /Gases merely followed the orders of her boss, the late Lazarus Kandara.
Werner Boesak told Judge Christi Liebenberg that /Gases believed she was working for a legitimate investment firm and that when she signed the SSC cheque she firmly believed the money was going to be invested.
Boesak was arguing in support of his client’s discharge under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA).
Earlier in his arguments, he felt the State failed dismally to prove any of the charges relating to misrepresentations or any of the charges under the Companies Act.
According to him, no evidence was presented during the trial that even hints at misrepresentation.
He said it was common cause Avid Investments was a young established company with envisaged prominent shareholders.
He further said this did not amount to misrepresentation.
“My client only attended two meetings with the SSC management and both were to introduce the company,” Boesak told the court.
He said /Gases believed the money would be invested in an interest-bearing Call Account with interest of 14.5 percent because it was communicated to her by the late Lazarus Kandara whom she trusted.
On the issue of the lack of accounting books for the company, he said that Erik Knouwds – who was responsible for liquidating Avid – already testified that he could not find any books on Avid’s accounts.
The fact that /Gases was the chairperson of the board of Avid could not be construed as that she had knowledge about the books of the company, he said.
If anything she is just as much a victim as SSC, Boesak said.
“There is no evidence before the court that the accused had devised this fabulous scheme to take N$30 million from the SSC and make it disappear,” he said, and continued, “there is no evidence these guys knew they were going to pull a fast one on the SSC.”
He further told the judge there is no evidence there was direct, clear, material misrepresentation from the accused.
According to him, the evidence before court does not sustain a charge of fraud nor the elements of fraud.
Jan Wessels, for Retired Brigadier Mathias Shiweda – who is Accused 6, told the court that “no speck of evidence” exists against his client in respect of the fraud and theft charges. The only possible evidence linking his client to the whole saga is the testimony of the widow of Kandara, Christofine Kandara, he said.
But, Wessels said, the court cannot believe a single word Kandara uttered.
He said the widow’s testimonies in the Section 417 hearing and her testimony in this trial is fraught with inconsistencies and controversies.
According to him, her various versions make her evidence so improbable that it is tantamount to “untruths”.
He said Kandara was “blatantly lying to the court”, for reasons only known to herself.
According to him, her testimony is of such poor quality that it cannot be used against the accused.
The case continues today with Gilroy Kasper arguing on behalf of lawyer Otniel Podewiltz, Sharon and Ralph Blaauw.