Former CEO of the Road Contractors Company, Kelly Nghixulifwa and two of his business associates, Anna Ndoroma and Hafeni Nginamwaami, intend to apply for charges against them to be dropped. They are facing charges of fraud and contravening the Anti-Corruption Act.
At the centre of the matter is a N$4.8 million loan that Nghixulifwa
allegedly secured for Ae//Gams Engineering to purchase Erf 10485 along Independence Avenue without declaring his interest in the company.
Nghixulifwa, who resigned after the ambitious construction of B1 City opposite the Katutura State hospital, went belly-up, is facing 11 charges of fraud and contravening the Anti-Corruption Act, while both Ndoroma and Nginamwaami each face four counts.
Nghixulifwa lost a legal battle in which he wanted the court to suppress eight of the charges as unconstitutional.
However, Windhoek High Court judge Christie Liebenberg dismissed his challenge, and he was unsuccessful with his appeal against Liebenberg’s ruling in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the trio’s lawyers informed Judge Liebenberg yesterday of their intent after the State closed its case. The judge ordered the defence must submit their heads of argument on/or before 17 July and the State its heads on or before 24 July. The matter has been postponed to 7 August for hearing of the 174 application. A section 174 application is when an accused can apply for discharge after the State closed its case and an accused feels there is no evidence to convict.
The trial, which has been besieged by delays since it was supposed to start in 2016, finally got off the ground in November 2021 when all three accused pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Before the State closed its case, it called its last witness, Sofia Tjimunda, who was the company secretary during 2004 and 2007.
She could only testify about her limited role in legal aspects of the transactions. The witness told the court she was the author of a ‘sketchy’ memorandum of understanding between RCC and Ae//Gams Engineering for RCC to provide guarantees for the purchase of Erf 10485 along Independence Avenue, which later became B1 City. In her evidence, she only mentioned David Imbili as the person that represented Ae //Gams Engineering.
Imbili was discharged from the trial after an application to be absolved from the charges due to lack of evidence before the trial started.
Nghixulifwa is represented by Veikko Alexander, Silas Kishi-Shakumu is representing Ndoroma, Trevor Brockerhoff represents Nginamwaami and Hesekiel Iipinge represents the State. The trial continues while all accused are out on bail.
- rrouth@nepc.com.na