Christof Maletsky
17 April 2008
Windhoek — Police late yesterday arrested former Swapo youth leader Paulus Kapia and four other key players in connection with the Social Security Commission's dubious investment of N$30 million with the controversial Avid Investment Corporation.
Also briefly behind bars were former Acting Secretary General of the National Youth Council, Ralph Blaauw, his wife Sharon, lawyer Otniel Podewiltz, who is employed at the Ministry of Labour, and the former chairperson of Avid's board of directors, Inez /Gâses.
The fifth warrant was for another former Avid director, Brigadier Mathias Shiweda. The first four were given bail of N$10 000 each. Well-placed sources said the arrest by the Namibian Police came on the instructions of the Prosecutor General, Martha Imalwa, who had been studying the 18-page report compiled by Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote, who headed an inquiry into the missing Avid millions in 2005.
Heathcote recommended that some of those involved in the Avid scandal be charged with perjury for having lied under oath during the inquiry. He said that because some of the witnesses who were summoned to testify did not tell the full truth, or lied outright when they gave evidence, the inquiry had been sidetracked from its goal of finding the missing N$30 million. The Namibian has it on good authority that the five face charges related to their roles as directors in Avid, but more details could not be obtained at the time of going to press.
"It is just the start of things," said one source close to the investigations. The source said the Office of the Prosecutor General had put everything in place to go ahead full speed with the case. "If we don't get delayed by their lawyers, the case will be over much faster. Even faster than the inquiry took," the source said. It is believed that some of the five will also face separate charges for their roles in the actual deals once the Anti-Corruption Commission proceeds with its cases. The ACC case had been delayed by the slow pace of investigations outside Namibia's borders.
The SSC/Avid scandal took root in January 2005 when the SSC transferred N$30 million into Avid's bank account but the money had been transferred to another asset management company, Namangol Investments, and from there, was distributed in various directions, also back into the hands of the late Avid chief Lazarus Kandara.
Kandara was later arrested and committed suicide in 2005. As the end of May 2005 approached, the money was due to be repaid to the SSC - but Avid could not account for it. Yet the case began to take its toll, with the Kandara suicide, Kapia's resignation as Deputy Minister and MP, and Blaauw's resignation as acting Secretary General of the National Youth Council.
Former SSC chief Tuli Hiveluah was also suspended. Huge portions were drawn in cash and converted into US dollars whereafter the spoor of the money was lost. The inquiry heard from Kandara's wife, Christophine Kandara, that she had handed over cash amounts of N$40 000 each to Podewiltz, Blaauw and Shiweda, with Blaauw also alleged to have passed on another N$40 000 to Kapia.
Her husband Lazarus Kandara backed up the claim of his wife when he gave evidence in the inquiry shortly before he took his own life. The alleged recipients all denied receiving money from Mrs Kandara. Said Acting Judge Heathcote: "If the evidence of Mrs Kandara is to be accepted (in respect of which I make no finding) then those people who denied having received the money may have committed perjury."
This is also one of the issues that the PG should investigate further, he indicated. During the inquiry Kapia denied that he knew that Kandara was involved, while Podewiltz downplayed his role considerably. Kapia became one of the shortest-serving Ministers in Namibian history when he resigned in August while the hearing was in process.
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