WINDHOEK – The trial of two men who stand accused of attempting to steal N$1.1 million from Air Namibia in 2017 is set to start in November.

Windhoek Regional Court Magistrate Alexis Diergaardt last week gave a final remand for the trial of fraud accused Penna Munyunda, 31, and his co-accused Tangi Amon Namwandi, 33, to start on November 11.
The prosecution is charging Munyunda with a count of fraud with an alternative count of theft in connection with N$1. 1 million, a count of fraud and an alternative count of theft in connection with N$760 000 and two counts of disguising the unlawful origin of a property in relation to N$1.1 million and N$760 000 respectively. 

Namwandi is charged with one count of theft in relation to N$1.1 million; a count of disguising unlawful origin of a property in connection with the N$1.1 million and a count of acquisition, use and possession of proceeds of unlawful activities on diverse occasions.

All charges emanate from a dubious transaction that was detected by the bank in 2017. It is alleged that a local bank alerted Air Namibia of a detected dubious diversion of money that was meant for payments to the Namibia Airports Company (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.

Consequently, Munyunda and his co-accused Namwandi were arrested on October 4, 2017, for allegedly attempting to steal N$1.1 million, according to the charge sheet.