A high Court judge has ordered the final liquidation of the fuel company Enercon Namibia and the close corporation Erongo Petroleum, which are both involved in the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) fraud and corruption case.
Final orders for the liquidation of Enercon Namibia and Erongo Petroleum were issued by deputy judge president Shafimana Ueitele last week, with the orders released on the High Court's Ejustice system at the end of the week and on Monday this week.
A Namcor subsidiary, Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution, applied for the liquidation of Enercon and Erongo Petroleum in cases filed at the Windhoek High Court in April last year.
The company informed the court that Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution concluded fuel supply and credit facility agreements with Enercon and Erongo Petroleum and that in terms of those agreements the two fuel firms had to pay Namcor within 30 days after receiving invoices for fuel products supplied to them.
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By November 2023, however, Erongo Petroleum owed N$266.7 million to the Namcor company, Enercon owed the company N$114.6 million, and despite demands for payment both Erongo Petroleum and Enercon did not pay their debts to Namcor, the court was informed.
Ueitele ordered on 10 June this year that Enercon and Erongo Petroleum should be placed under a provisional order of liquidation.
The businessman brothers Peter and Malakia Elindi, who are charged in the Namcor fraud and corruption case, were shareholders and directors of Enercon until February 2023.
Since February 2023, Austin Elindi, the son of Peter, Victor Malima, who is also wanted in connection with the Namcor fraud and corruption case, and former August 26 Holding Company chief executive Ndajoina Shalumbu have been the directors of Enercon, company records show.
The company's shareholders are Austin Elindi, Malima and August 26 Holding Company.
Austin is the sole member of Erongo Petroleum.
In a sworn statement filed at the court last week, Austin Elindi said Erongo Petroleum is owed money by Enercon, and Enercon in turn is owed money by the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs.
In the same statement, Elindi said he has signed an investment agreement with a Hong Kong company, Pacific Creation Limited, which committed to invest up to US$44 million (about N$775 million) to acquire stakes in Erongo Petroleum and Enercon.
Elindi also claimed in an affidavit filed at the High Court in June last year that Erongo Petroleum had entered into an investment agreement with a British company, 51 Dominance Capital Limited, for an investment of 60 million euros (about N$1.2 billion) in Erongo Petroleum's business.
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Elindi claimed as well that an amount of 45 million euros (about N$930 million) from the investment of 60 million euros was to be made available within 120 days to supplement Erongo Petroleum's working capital. That claim was made in June last year.
In the criminal case about alleged fraud and corruption at Namcor, which is pending in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court, the state is alleging that Elindi, as a representative of Erongo Petroleum, defrauded Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution between December 2022 and May 2023 by not paying the company for fuel valued at N$238.6 that had been supplied to Erongo Petroleum.
The state is also alleging that Namcor was defrauded when Enercon sold filling station assets at nine Namibian Defence Force bases to the state-owned company for N$53.2 million in July 2022.
Peter and Malakia Elindi have denied the charges against them during a protracted bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court.
