Magistrate Sarel Jacobs is set to give his ruling in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court tomorrow on the 43-year-old Josea's application to be released on bail.

On Friday, the Magistrate heard the final arguments on the bail application from Josea's lawyer, André Louw, and Public Prosecutor Marilize Willemse.

Louw advanced two main lines of argument to the court.

His first was that, according to Josea, the SSC's money was invested not for a four-month period as had been the agreement between the SSC and Avid Investment Corporation, but for a year and one day.

This means that the investment will mature by the first week of March next year.

It will be only then that the SSC will be able to claim that Josea's asset management company, Namangol Investments, should return the money to it, Louw told the court.

In terms of the investment agreement that the SSC concluded with Avid Investment Corporation, which was the company to which it entrusted the N$30 million to be invested in January this year, the money was supposed to be invested for four months.

After Avid had received the funds from the SSC, it transferred N$29,5 million to a bank account of Namangol Investments.

Josea had the bulk of that money, an amount of N$20 million, transferred from that account to an account of a South African financial trader, Alan Rosenberg, who was supposed to invest the money, according to Josea.

The agreement between Josea and the Chief Executive Officer of Avid, the late Lazarus Kandara, was that this investment was to run for a year and a day, Josea is claiming.

Louw told the Magistrate that in the absence of Kandara, who is claimed to have committed suicide on August 24, there was no-one who could contradict Josea's version of what he and Kandara had agreed with regard to the investment of the SSC's money.

According to Josea's version of events, the money would have to be repaid by March next year, Louw said.

Before that, Josea and Namangol cannot be taken to court to force them to repay the money, he added Josea is admitting that he received N$15 million back from Rosenberg a little over a month after the N$20 million had first been transferred to Rosenberg.

According to him, he received that money because he had sued Rosenberg for breach of contract, and Rosenberg then settled that case by agreeing to pay him a total of N$30 million, as well as the equivalent of some N$117 million once an investment that he was involved in matures, also in early March.

When he received the N$15 million back from Rosenberg, he was told that he could use that money, since the money that he had initially sent to Rosenberg would be repaid as part of the investment that was to mature in March next year, Josea also told the court.

With Rosenberg having paid Josea only the N$15 million so far - having failed to honour the rest of the agreement by which he was supposed to have paid Josea a total of N$30 million by now - Josea is the only person who will be able to take legal steps against Rosenberg to force him to also pay the rest of the money, Louw argued.

To do that, he added, Josea needs to be out of prison on bail.

Willemse did not agree.

She pointed out to the court that the SSC's lawyer, Rocco Kauta, had told the court that Rosenberg's assets - some N$900 000 in a bank account, and a car - have already been attached in South Africa, and that he has been found to be basically insolvent.

The provisional liquidator who has been put in charge of both Avid and Namangol Investments can pursue legal steps against Rosenberg; for that, Josea's involvement is not needed, the court also heard.

To that, Louw answered in his replying argument: "We have to take the action against Rosenberg.

Rosenberg is too clever for the State and the liquidators without our help."

Willemse told the Magistrate that the extreme seriousness of the case could be an incentive for Josea not to stand trial if he was to be released on bail.

She said it is such a serious case that if Josea was to be convicted, chances are that he could spend most of the rest of his life behind bars.

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