Social activist Michael Amushelelo and a co-accused in a multimillion-dollar fraud case that has been pending in the Windhoek High Court for four years will now be allowed to apply for new passports, and to travel to South Africa to consult lawyers.
This is after the bail conditions of Amushelelo (34) and his co-accused, Gregory Cloete (37), were amended by acting judge Marilize du Plessis during a court appearance by the two men yesterday.
The bail conditions were changed in terms of an agreement between state advocate Constance Moyo and defence lawyer Ndahambelela Haifene.
Amushelelo, Cloete and four close corporations, a company and a trust represented by Amushelelo are charged in connection with an investment scheme that Amushelelo and Cloete were running under the name ‘Project One Million’ in 2018 and 2019.
Amushelelo and Cloete are jointly charged with 360 counts, including 348 charges of fraud, alternatively theft by false pretences, two counts of money laundering, two charges of racketeering and counts of conducting a Ponzi scheme and conducting a banking business while not being authorised.
Amushelelo is also charged with five additional counts, including charges of fraud through tax evasion and failure to pay tax.
The state is alleging that Amushelelo, Cloete, and the entities represented by Amushelelo operated a Ponzi scheme in which money was solicited from investors who were lured by promises of high returns on their investments.
It is alleged that investors were told that their funds would be traded in foreign exchange markets. In reality, though, these funds were not invested in foreign currency, but were later used to pay back earlier investors, the state is alleging.
Amushelelo and Cloete are alleged to have received about N$14.7 million from investors mentioned in the charges they are facing.
They are also accused of having used investors’ money to buy several luxury cars for themselves.
The two men are free on bail in an amount of N$35 000 each, which was granted to them after they were arrested in October 2019.
In terms of the amended bail conditions, Amushelelo and Cloete may now apply for new passports once their current travel documents expire, but they have to hand any new passports over to the police officer in charge of investigating their case.
They will be allowed to use the new passports to travel to South Africa only to consult with lawyers, and must hand the passports back to the investigating officer on their return to Namibia.
Amushelelo and Cloete will also no longer have to report to the police three times a week. Du Plessis ordered that they now have to report to the police once a week, every Monday or Friday.
They may still not leave the Windhoek district without prior authorisation from the investigating officer.
The case in which Amushelelo and Cloete are charged has been pending in the Windhoek High Court since September 2021. Their next pretrial hearing is scheduled to take place in the High Court on 19 November.
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