Church fraud case resurrected

Pastor duped with inheritance con

A former pastor of a Windhoek congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) will have to return to the Windhoek Regional Court to continue to face fraud charges on which he was found not guilty four years ago.

This is after the acquittal of former ELCRN pastor Japhet Sem and two co-accused was set aside in an appeal judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Judge Herman January concluded in the appeal judgement that the magistrate who found Sem and two co-accused, Eunice Nakapunda and Mark Beukes, not guilty in January 2021 misdirected himself in several respects when he reasoned that the prosecution did not produce evidence on which the three accused could be found guilty.

The state alleged that Sem, Nakapunda and Beukes defrauded the ELCRN’s Macedonia Parish in Windhoek through a series of transactions from July 2009 to March 2010.

The Macedonia Parish is alleged to have lost about N$696 000 as a result of the alleged fraud.

Sem and Nakapunda, who was the chairperson of the parish’s finance committee, were jointly accused of defrauding the congregation of a total amount of about N$316 000, over which they faced eight counts of fraud.

Sem and Beukes, who was a fellow ELCRN pastor, were jointly accused of defrauding the parish of a total amount of N$380 000. They faced six charges of fraud in connection with that.

According to Sem’s version that was put to state witnesses during their trial, he fell victim to email scammers who informed him that he was due to inherit US$2.5 million – then the equivalent of about N$18.5 million – of which 90% supposedly had to be used for humanitarian and charity purposes, with an emphasis on spreading the gospel and building churches and schools for orphans.

As is customary with such email cons, Sem was later also informed he first had to make some payments for supposed expenses before the inheritance could be paid to him.

Having fallen for the scam, Sem used money belonging to his congregation to make payments totalling N$606 500 to the scammers.

He later confessed to his church council that he had used money belonging to the church without its permission.

After that, there was a split in the congregation, with Sem and some members of his flock leaving the church to form their own congregation.

In the appeal judgement, January noted: “The evidence reflects that [Sem] never received authorisation from the elders’ council or financial committee to obtain money for himself or as funds to release a so-called inheritance.”

If he had permission to use money belonging to the parish, it would not have been necessary to call a meeting to inform the church council about his use of funds without permission, January said.

Sem’s use of money without permission at first glance amounts to theft at least, January also remarked.

Nakapunda’s plea explanation at the start of their trial was that Sem induced her under false pretences to sign cheques, January noted as well. He said: “Although not evidence, it is a material allegation for consideration whether to grant a discharge or not. This allegation is seriously incriminating against [Sem]”.

Sem informed the trial court in a plea explanation that he had the required authority to use money belonging to the church, and that he also borrowed ELCRN funds from Beukes in the name of the church.

January recounted that there was undisputed evidence at the end of the state’s case in the trial of the three accused that showed money was withdrawn from the bank account of the church by the accused, working jointly or individually.

It was premature for the trial magistrate to conclude at the end of the state’s case that the three accused lacked an intention to commit the charges and did not make misrepresentations, January said.

Judge Dinnah Usiku agreed with January’s judgement.

The two judges referred the case back to the Windhoek Regional Court for the trial to continue.

Sem, Nakapunda and Beukes will have to decide if they will testify in their own defence when their trial continues.

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