A group of businessmen and women, accused of defrauding the Ministry of Finance of N$3.1 billion in revenue, will be tried on 1 676 various criminal charges in the Windhoek High Court.
The group comprises Namibian
national Laurensius Julius, as well as
Chinese businessmen Jack Huang, Tao Huizhong, Zhu Honggang, Zhihua Gua, Hongying Jia, Shuhua Cao, Dadi Li and Ying Zhang. Jinrong Huang, fled the country
and died in China, according to media reports.
The group made its first appearance on Friday before Judge Christie Liebenberg. Their case was postponed to 17 August for the mentions roll. The court ordered the state to provide disclosure to the defence before or on 29 May.
Julius and his co-accused will be tried on various counts of tax evasion, fraud and money laundering.
According to police and forensic accounting evidence presented during the accused’s formal bail hearing, the ministry suffered losses of the substantial amount in question as a result of the under-declaration of the value of goods imported into Namibia and on which customs duties were supposed to be paid.
The investigations revealed there was
an outflow of foreign currency from Namibia, instigated by the Bank of Namibia last year.
During the investigation, it was discovered that N$3.1 billion was shipped out of the country through Julius’ business, Extreme Customs Clearing Services, among others.
Investigators unearthed those imports were under-declared at customs and over-declared at the bank, resulting in losses of billions of dollars to Namibia.
The evidence indicated there was a huge difference in the amount presented at the bank for deposit and that presented at customs for clearance.
The amount allegedly paid to foreign beneficiaries does not correlate to the amount on the invoices.
The substantial amount is said to have been remitted to offshore accounts through a local bank.
All accused persons are currently on bail, ranging between N$500 000 and N$1.5 million, respectively.