WALVIS BAY - The husband of the Lewcor group N$11 million fraud suspect was arrested by the Namibian police after he was linked to the alleged crime his wife was charged with last month.
Jalmari Ngutuwane Haimbilli is married to the former Lewcor accountant, Beauty Emily Haimbili, who is facing 18 counts of fraud, alternatively theft, as well as 18 counts of money laundering, forgery and uttering for allegedly defrauding the company between 2016 and 2020.
Jalmari made his first court appearance on Wednesday in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court.
However, it is not clear whether he faces the exact charges as his wife.
During court proceedings, public prosecutor Maggy Shiyagaya applied for the cases for the couple to be joined and requested that the matter be postponed to 8 April for further investigations.
“The investigations in the matter are not done yet hence we request for a postponement and that bail be set for N$60 000 with the same conditions as the first accused,” Shiyagaya said.
Jalmari was then released on bail of N$60 000 by magistrate John Sindano. The same court had granted Beauty bail of N$60 000 on 1 March.
As part of the bail conditions, Jalmari is supposed to hand in his travel documents and was told not to apply for new ones.
As his wife, he is not allowed to leave the Erongo region without informing the investigating officer.
He should also report on Monday and Friday between 08h00 and 18h00 at the Walvis Bay port’s police station.
Erongo crime investigations coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu during Beauty’s arrest said she allegedly defrauded Lewcor by requesting payments for the company from its service providers and diverted the payments to her personal account.
She also used the account of a cleaning service owned by her instead of the company’s account.
“The suspect further submitted invoices and quotations to clients especially in Erongo with her personal and business account numbers for them to pay the money into. As a result, an amount of N$11 million was paid into her accounts,” Iikuyu told journalists at the time.
- edeklerk@nepc.com.na