The then acting chief executive of the fuel company Enercon Namibia paid cash deposits of close to N$1.2 million into bank accounts of former National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) manager Cedric Willemse, according to an Anti-Corruption Commission investigator.
The investigator, Oberty Inambao, testified during Willemse’s bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday that the then chief executive of Enercon, Connie van Wyk, paid cash deposits of close to N$1.2 million into two bank accounts of Willemse from 2 November to 18 December 2022.
Van Wyk is also charged in the Namcor fraud and corruption case, in which Willemse is one of the accused. Van Wyk has been released on bail in an amount of N$50 000.
At the time the cash deposits were made into Willemse’s accounts, Enercon Namibia was running up debts with Namcor that came to N$35 million by the end of December 2022, Inambao said.
The debts were accumulated after Enercon sold filling station assets at nine Namibian Defence Force bases to Namcor for N$53.2 million in July 2022, Inambao recounted.
As part of that transaction, N$35 million of the purchase price that Namcor paid to Enercon was used to clear a debt of N$35 million the company had with Namcor, Inambao told magistrate Olga Muharukua.
However, during the rest of that year, Enercon’s debts with Namcor again grew, reaching a level of N$35 million by the end of 2022 – more than double the credit limit of N$15.5 million that Enercon had with the state-owned fuel company, he said.
The close corporation Eco Fuel investment also ceded to Enercon N$73 million in debt that it owed to Namcor, and that brought Namcor’s exposure to debt of Enercon to N$108 million by the end of December 2022, Inambao said.
The state is alleging that Willemse and other accused charged in the Namcor fraud and corruption case corruptly allowed Enercon to accumulate debts with Namcor beyond Enercon’s credit limit of N$15.5 million.
Inambao also alleged in his testimony that after Namcor bought the filling station assets from Enercon, two payments totalling N$2 million were made into a personal bank account of Willemse and a bank account of a close corporation of Willemse, Parkwood Petroleum Logistics.
The N$2 million paid into the two accounts came from the money that Namcor paid to Enercon to buy the filling station assets from the company, Inambao said.
There is a risk that Willemse would flee if released on bail, as he has dual Namibian and South African citizenship and has sold properties that he owned in South Africa, meaning he would have money available in that country, Inambao said as well.
Inambao told the court that on 8 July, before Willemse was arrested, he had locked himself in his bedroom for more than an hour. Willemse unlocked the door only after Anti-Corruption Commission and police officials threatened to break open the door, Inambao said.
When the officials entered Willemse’s room, his phone started to ring, with calls made to him by Victor Malima, who is also wanted in connection with the Namcor fraud and corruption case, and former Namcor managing director Imms Mulunga, Inambao said.
He continued that Malima crossed Namibia’s border with Angola at Oshikango less than an hour after the arrest of Willemse.
The bail hearing is continuing.
