Avid deal charge case drags on

THE defence counsel of Nico Josea – one of the main figures in the saga over the Social Security Commission’s disastrous investment of N$30 million through an inexperienced asset management company in early 2005 – warned yesterday that he will be opposing any further postponements of the fraud case that has been pending against Josea since mid-2005.

The case against Josea (44) was postponed for a sixth time for further investigation when Josea made his latest appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The latest postponement drew some grumbling from Josea’s defence lawyer, Andre Louw.Louw told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba that he agreed with Public Prosecutor Amizé Adams that Josea’s case was complex.Since it is an exceptional case, he added, he would however expect that additional investigating officers should be appointed.Louw warned that he would not agree to any further postponements of the case and that he would oppose further delays in the case when it returns to court.Adams had asked the Magistrate to order a postponement to October 30 for further investigations to be done, and also asked that this should not be a final postponement.He told the court that it was a complex case involving some N$29 million and hundreds of documents that need to be investigated and scrutinised, and that the investigation was taking time because of this.Magistrate Shilemba granted the postponement to October 30.She remarked that she had opted not to make the postponement a final one for the purpose of further investigations, since the matter was a complicated one.Josea was arrested on July 26 2005 on a charge of fraud, alternatively theft.He remained in custody for more than three months, until he was granted bail of N$30 000 on November 1 2005.While he was in custody, his personal estate and the asset management company that he ran, Namangol Investments, were both provisionally declared bankrupt as a result of the role that he and the company had played in the movement of the SSC’s money after the latter had agreed to invest N$30 million through a politically-connected but inexperienced asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, in early 2005.After the SSC had paid N$30 million into a bank account of Avid, N$29,5 million was transferred from that account to an account of Namangol Investments.From there, the money went in various directions.The biggest part of it, an amount of N$20 million, was sent to a South African alleged investment broker, Alan Rosenberg, who according to Josea had to invest it.Josea has claimed that his agreement with Rosenberg for the investment of this money fell apart when Rosenberg breached their deal.In the name of Namangol Investments he then sued Rosenberg for breach of contract, but they settled the matter with an agreement that was supposed to turn out extremely lucratively for Josea and his company.In terms of this alleged settlement, Rosenberg had to pay back a sum of N$15 million to Namangol Investments, supposedly to compensate the company for damages that it suffered, pay another N$15 million to the company in three instalments of N$5 million each, and also undertook to let Namangol share in half of the proceeds from a claimed major investment that Rosenberg supposedly was involved in at the time.Namangol Investments’ share of those proceeds was supposed to amount to some N$117 million once that investment matured in early March 2006, Josea has claimed.That date has come and gone in the meantime.The promised rich returns on the alleged investment however never materialised.The supposed damages of N$15 million that had to be paid to Namangol Investments was indeed paid over, but it went into Josea’s own pockets.He went on to either spend or invest most of this money himself, while he also gave away a substantial part of it, it was established during a inquiry into the fate of the SSC investment that the High Court conducted in mid-2005.The end result has been that except for the threat of criminal prosecution that is hanging over Josea, who is the only person currently facing a criminal charge in connection with the SSC-Avid deal, he and Namangol Investments are being held accountable for returning the N$29,5 million that the company received from Avid.Avid has also been declared bankrupt after it emerged that it was not able to repay the SSC money when the investment was supposed to be returned in late May 2005.Josea’s personal estate and Namangol Investments remain provisionally sequestrated and liquidated respectively, while the High Court’s judgement on a contested application to finally declare the company and Josea’s estate bankrupt remains pending.That judgement was finally reserved on May 22 last year, after Judge President Petrus Damaseb had heard lengthy legal arguments during a hearing that started in late November 2005, continued in January and over three days in March, and concluded with a further three days of arguments in May last year.The latest postponement drew some grumbling from Josea’s defence lawyer, Andre Louw.Louw told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba that he agreed with Public Prosecutor Amizé Adams that Josea’s case was complex.Since it is an exceptional case, he added, he would however expect that additional investigating officers should be appointed.Louw warned that he would not agree to any further postponements of the case and that he would oppose further delays in the case when it returns to court.Adams had asked the Magistrate to order a postponement to October 30 for further investigations to be done, and also asked that this should not be a final postponement.He told the court that it was a complex case involving some N$29 million and hundreds of documents that need to be investigated and scrutinised, and that the investigation was taking time because of this.Magistrate Shilemba granted the postponement to October 30.She remarked that she had opted not to make the postponement a final one for the purpose of further investigations, since the matter was a complicated one.Josea was arrested on July 26 2005 on a charge of fraud, alternatively theft.He remained in custody for more than three months, until he was granted bail of N$30 000 on November 1 2005.While he was in custody, his personal estate and the asset management company that he ran, Namangol Investments, were both provisionally declared bankrupt as a result of the role that he and the company had played in the movement of the SSC’s money after the latter had agreed to invest N$30 million through a politically-connected but inexperienced asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, in early 2005.After the SSC had paid N$30 million into a bank account of Avid, N$29,5 million was transferred from that account to an account of Namangol Investments.From there, the money went in various directions.The biggest part of it, an amount of N$20 million, was sent to a South African alleged investment broker, Alan Rosenberg, who according to Josea had to invest it.Josea has claimed that his agreement with Rosenberg for the investment of this money fell apart when Rosenberg breached their deal.In the name of Namangol Investments he then sued Rosenberg for breach of contract, but they settled the matter with an agreement that was supposed to turn out extremely lucratively for Josea and his company.In terms of this alleged settlement, Rosenberg had to pay back a sum of N$15 million to Namangol Investments, supposedly to compensate the company for damages that it suffered, pay another N$15 million to the company in three instalments of N$5 million each, and also undertook to let Namangol share in half of the proceeds from a claimed major investment that Rosenberg supposedly was involved in at the time.Namangol Investments’ share of those proceeds was supposed to amount to some N$117 million once that investment matured in early March 2006, Josea has claimed.That date has come and gone in the meantime.The promised rich returns on the alleged investment however never materialised.The supposed damages of N$15 million that had to be paid to Namangol Investments was indeed paid over, but it went into Josea’s own pockets.He went on to either spend or invest most of this money himself, while he also gave away a substantial part of it, it was established during a inquiry into the fate of the SSC investment that the High Court conducted in mid-2005.The end result has been that except for the threat of criminal prosecution that is hanging over Josea, who is the only person currently facing a criminal charge in connection with the SSC-Avid deal, he and Namangol Investments are being held accountable for returning the N$29,5 million that the company received from Avid.Avid has also been declared bankrupt after it emerged that it was not able to repay the SSC money when the investment was supposed to be returned in late May 2005.Josea’s personal estate and Namangol Investments remain provisionally sequestrated and liquidated respectively, while the High Court’s judgement on a contested application to finally declare the company and Josea’s estate bankrupt remains pending.That judgement was finally reserved on May 22 last year, after Judge President Petrus Damaseb had heard lengthy legal arguments during a hearing that started in late November 2005, continued in January and over three days in March, and concluded with a further three days of arguments in May last year.