n Maria Amakali
WINDHOEK – The Prosecutor-General has decided to prosecute three people for the N$2 million allegedly defrauded from Multi-Choice Namibia between 2013 and 2017.
Manga Nawa-Mukena a former marketing manager at Multi-Choice was initially charged alone but her husband Joseph Mukena and Celestino Gabriel Antonio have also been added to the list of suspects. Joseph appeared in court together with his wife last Friday while Antonio their co-accused was initially arraigned when the case was brought for mention for the third time.
According to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) decision, the trio will have to stand trial in the High Court, with their first appearance scheduled on June 21.
They are expected to stand trial for more than 161 criminal counts ranging from fraud, theft , forgery and uttering a forged document and money laundering.
Alone, Nawa-Mukena is facing more than 80 counts of fraud, forgery and uttering a forged document, and a count for contravening Section 61 of the Value Added Tax Act.
Nawa-Mukena and her partner Joseph are both facing 80 alternative counts of theft, one count of contravening Section 5 of the Prevention of Organised Crime and one count of money laundering.
All three accused persons are facing one count for defeating the cause of justice and a count of forgery and uttering a forged document.
According to the prosecution, all charges emanate from the falsification of invoices worth N$2 088 071 for advertising services.
According to court documents Nawa-Mukena and her co-accused, between April 1, 2013 and March 17, 2017 the accused wrongfully, unlawfully, falsely and with intent processed the invoices to defraud Multi-Choice Namibia and Roger Gertze.
The documents further states that, over a period of three years the trio falsified 80 invoices and enticed the television company to pay for advertising services that were never rendered by state owned newspaper Kundana (PTY) Ltd. Allegedly, the invoices were presented with banking details but not of Kundana (PTY) Ltd and as such the payments were made in the accused’s accounts. The prosecution alleges Nawa-Mukena knew very well the 80 invoices she presented to her employer were falsified and no advertising services were ever rendered to her employer.