The trial of two men who stand accused of attempting to divert and steal N$1.1 million from Air Namibia in 2017 will resume in October.
Magistrate Surita Savage postponed the trial hearing to 12 October, warning State witnesses and the accused, Penna Munyunda (32) and Tangi Amon Namwandi (34) to appear in court on the scheduled date.
Munyunda and Namwandi, the men at the centre of the allegations, have since denied any wrongdoing when their trial started last year in November.
They denied having a hand in the diversion of N$1.1 million that was intended for payments at the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) from Air Namibia in 2017.
The unauthorised diversion of funds has cost Air Namibia to lose N$289 000, according to the prosecution.
During the trial, Namwandi through his defence lawyer Sisa Namandje admitted that an amount of N$1.1 million was indeed deposited into his company’s account, held under the name Normma CC at First National Bank on the date in question.
He explained that the funds were transferred to the account by Air Namibia.
Namwandi further admitted that he spent N$289 000 of the said money as he believed that the money was his, paid into his company’s account by his debtors.
The accused, however, denied that he conspired with an employee of Air Namibia in an attempt to steal money that was deposited into his company’s account by mistake.
Munyunda after taking his plea opted to remain silent, with his defence attorney Laura Pack informing the court that the State should prove the allegations levelled against him.
The Namibian police arrested Namwandi and Munyunda on 4 October 2017 after a local bank alerted Air Namibia of a detected dubious diversion of money that was meant for payment to the NAC.
It is alleged that the transfer in question was fully authorised and signed off to be paid to NAC when a suspicious request was made to the bank for the money to be transferred to a different bank account other than that of NAC.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na