The Windhoek High Court is set to hear an application for leave to approach the Supreme Court by accountant and fraud convict Tulihaleni Nghihalwa, who is challenging her 12-year sentence for stealing N$4.4 million from her employers.
Judge Philanda Christiaan scheduled the hearing for 20 October 2026.
Nghihalwa, her two relatives and a fourth individual were sentenced in July 2026 by acting judge Petrus Unengu in connection with a scheme that syphoned more than N$4.4 million from a local company, Komatsu.
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The other accused were Nghihalwa's brother, Tulihafeni Nghihalwa; her cousin, Johanna Jona; and a fourth accused, Pauline Gaes.
Komatsu is a manufacturer and supplier of earthmoving machinery for the construction and mining industries.
Nghihalwa faced 75 fraud charges and, with her co-accused, other money-laundering charges, with Gaes facing an additional charge of acquiring and using criminal proceeds.
The charges related to suspicious transactions processed between January 2014 and May 2016 from Komatsu.
The allegations were that Nghihalwa, then employed as an accountant, generated fraudulent payment requisitions for goods and services that were never delivered.
The misrepresentation that the payments were intended to legitimise suppliers resulted in N$4.4 million being approved and paid to the company's considerable prejudice.
The funds, however, were allegedly diverted into bank accounts controlled by Nghihalwa and her co-accused.
Nghihalwa was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on 75 counts of fraud, with three years suspended. She will therefore serve a 12-year sentence and pay a fine of N$20 000 on a count of money laundering.
Tulihafeni was fined N$20 000, and Jona was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined N$20 000.
Gaes, on the other hand, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined N$30 000. Delivering the sentence, Judge Unengu described fraud, theft and money laundering as serious offences that ordinarily call for imprisonment and stated that courts are required to impose sentences that discourage others from committing similar offences. The judge found that Nghihalwa had abused the trust placed in her as an accountant employed at Komatsu's local office.
According to the court, Nghihalwa was headhunted to manage the company's finances but used her position to falsify payment documents and defraud her employer 75 times, siphoning more than N$4.5 million over time. Nothing before the court suggested Nghihalwa would have stopped if her fraud had not been discovered.
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Neither of the accused showed genuine remorse at trial. The judge called them dishonest, untruthful "liars" who concealed the truth, and found their conduct enabled Nghihalwa to continue offending.
Mbanga Siyomunji and Borris Isaacks represent the accused, while Eric Moyo represents the State.
