A fraud and money laundering case that has been sitting on the desk of the prosecutor general (PG) for 10 years, waiting for her decision to charge the suspects, has made it to court.
PG Martha Imalwa has charged Ndapandula Jane Kashiyukile (53), Barend Johannes Neels (53), Ali Fadi Ayoub (54), Jacobus Totie Gurirab (54) and Castro Mafitelo Lifalaza (54) together with Etanaka Trade Zone CC with six counts.
They are charged with two counts of fraud, alternatively using a document issued by an agent, which contains false information, thereby contravening the Anti- Corruption Act; two counts of corruptly using office or position for gratification in contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act in respect of Kashiyukile, Neels and Lifalaza; one count of conspiring with another person to commit an offence of corruption in respect of Ayoub and Gurirab and one count of money laundering with its alternative in respect of Ayoub and Lifalaza.
The charge sheet states that the accused, acting jointly or with a common purpose, informed the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the ministry of finance in a letter dated 5 June 2014 that the banking details of KL Construction had changed. They thereby induced the two ministries to effect the change.
In the process, it is alleged, they defrauded the State of N$4.9 million.
The money that was meant for KL Construction instead ended up in the bank account of Etanaka Trade Zone CC.
Lebanese-born Ayoub was granted bail of N$60 000 by Magistrate Ruth Herunga in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.
After a formal bail hearing, he was released when the magistrate’s court provisionally withdrew the matter after the PG could not decide where and on what charges to arraign the suspects.
The other accused persons were all released on bail of N$30 000 during their first appearance.
However, their bail money was returned to them after the matter was withdrawn.
They were summoned to appear in court after the PG decided to try them in the Windhoek Regional Court.
They were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) between 19 June and 18 July 2014 after a local commercial bank alerted the authorities about a suspicious transaction the suspects intended to complete.
The intended recipient of the money, KL Construction, was awarded the tender to construct the road between Oshigambo and Eenhana, bordering the Oshikoto and Ohangwena regions.
During investigations, the ACC found that Lifalaza, the works ministry accountant, facilitated the diversion of the money from KL Construction’s account to that of Etanaka.
It has so far been established that Etanaka has no business relations with the works ministry or with KL Construction.
“It is alleged that Gurirab approached Neels at the Ministry of Health and Social Services to request the change of banking details from those of KL Construction (Pty) Ltd to Etanaka Trading Zone cc,” ACC spokesperson Albert Mbanga informed New Era in July 2014.
Neels allegedly involved his colleague Kashiyukile, who wrote a letter to the finance ministry with instructions to pay the money into – unbeknown to the ministry – Etanaka’s bank account.
This was supposedly because KL Construction had changed its banking details and had requested that the money be paid into the newly provided account.
To test if the money had indeed been deposited, an initial N$500 was allegedly withdrawn from an ATM.
After that, the accused allegedly proceeded to withdraw N$2 million from inside the bank, raising suspicion among bank officials.
-rrouth@nepc.com.na