Court rules against Avid accused

FORMER Deputy Minister and Swapo Party Youth League leader Paulus Kapia had only slight success yesterday with a bid to force the State to provide him with more information on the charges that he and six-co-accused are facing in the High Court in connection with a N$30 million investment disaster with Social Security Commission money in early 2005.

Two weeks after Kapia and three of his co-accused in the Avid Investment Corporation fraud case had asked Acting Judge Annel Silungwe to order the State to provide them with further particulars on the charges they are set to face at their trial, Acting Judge Silungwe yesterday dismissed all their applications on that point. Kapia had some success on another point, though.His defence lawyer, Sisa Namandje, had also asked the court to throw out some of the nine charges that Kapia is facing.Namandje argued that these charges should be quashed because they do not disclose any offence that Kapia is alleged to have committed.On only one of these charges Acting Judge Silungwe agreed with Namandje.In that charge, it is alleged that the business of two asset management companies, Avid Investment Corporation and Namangol Investments, had been carried on recklessly or with intent to defraud the creditors of the companies between April 2004 and July 2005, and that the seven people charged in the Avid fraud case took part in this carrying on of the two companies’ business.The offence in this charge is adequately disclosed, Acting Judge Silungwe ruled in a judgement handed down in the High Court yesterday.The charge however tended to show that it was the two companies – Avid Investment Corporation and Namangol Investments – that allegedly perpetrated this offence, Acting Judge Silungwe remarked.There was merit in the argument that the charge fails to link Kapia or any of his co-accused to the disclosed offence, he stated.On that charge, Acting Judge Silungwe ordered the Office of the Prosecutor General to amend the count within 14 days.If the amendment is not done within 14 days, the charge will automatically become quashed, he ordered.Acting Judge Silungwe dismissed the application by Kapia and three of his co-accused – former Labour Ministry official Otniel Podewiltz, former National Youth Council Acting Secretary General Ralph Blaauw, and the latter’s wife, lawyer Sharon Blaauw – for the State to be ordered to provide further particulars to them on the charges they are facing.The object of asking for further particulars is to enable accused persons to know what the case which is to be made against them is, to enable them to properly prepare their case in their defence, Acting Judge Silungwe noted.He found that in this case Kapia, Podewiltz and the Blaauws had been provided with enough information to reasonably and fairly inform them of the case they have to meet and to properly prepare their defences.The seven people charged in the Avid fraud case face charges that flow from an investment of N$30 million that the Social Security Commission made through Avid Investment Corporation in early 2005.Some N$29,5 million of this money was subsequently transferred to Namangol Investments.By the end of the supposed four-month investment period, no money was returned to the SSC, leading to the charge that large-scale fraud or theft had been committed against the SSC.The charges against the seven people indicted in the case consist of one count of fraud, alternatively theft, a charge of corruption against Podewiltz alone, another of giving false evidence at a court enquiry under the Companies Act against all seven accused, and seven charges in terms of the Companies Act, including a count of recklessly or fraudulently conducting the business of Avid and Namangol Investments.The seven have to attend another pre-trial hearing in the High Court on October 16.Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small represented the State with the hearing of the application a fortnight ago.Christie Mostert represented Podewiltz and the Blaauws.Kapia had some success on another point, though.His defence lawyer, Sisa Namandje, had also asked the court to throw out some of the nine charges that Kapia is facing.Namandje argued that these charges should be quashed because they do not disclose any offence that Kapia is alleged to have committed. On only one of these charges Acting Judge Silungwe agreed with Namandje.In that charge, it is alleged that the business of two asset management companies, Avid Investment Corporation and Namangol Investments, had been carried on recklessly or with intent to defraud the creditors of the companies between April 2004 and July 2005, and that the seven people charged in the Avid fraud case took part in this carrying on of the two companies’ business.The offence in this charge is adequately disclosed, Acting Judge Silungwe ruled in a judgement handed down in the High Court yesterday.The charge however tended to show that it was the two companies – Avid Investment Corporation and Namangol Investments – that allegedly perpetrated this offence, Acting Judge Silungwe remarked.There was merit in the argument that the charge fails to link Kapia or any of his co-accused to the disclosed offence, he stated.On that charge, Acting Judge Silungwe ordered the Office of the Prosecutor General to amend the count within 14 days.If the amendment is not done within 14 days, the charge will automatically become quashed, he ordered.Acting Judge Silungwe dismissed the application by Kapia and three of his co-accused – former Labour Ministry official Otniel Podewiltz, former National Youth Council Acting Secretary General Ralph Blaauw, and the latter’s wife, lawyer Sharon Blaauw – for the State to be ordered to provide further particulars to them on the charges they are facing.The object of asking for further particulars is to enable accused persons to know what the case which is to be made against them is, to enable them to properly prepare their case in their defence, Acting Judge Silungwe noted.He found that in this case Kapia, Podewiltz and the Blaauws had been provided with enough information to reasonably and fairly inform them of the case they have to meet and to properly prepare their defences.The seven people charged in the Avid fraud case face charges that flow from an investment of N$30 million that the Social Security Commission made through Avid Investment Corporation in early 2005.Some N$29,5 million of this money was subsequently transferred to Namangol Investments.By the end of the supposed four-month investment period, no money was returned to the SSC, leading to the charge that large-scale fraud or theft had been committed against the SSC.The charges against the seven people indicted in the case consist of one count of fraud, alternatively theft, a charge of corruption against Podewiltz alone, another of giving false evidence at a court enquiry under the Companies Act against all seven accused, and seven charges in terms of the Companies Act, including a count of recklessly or fraudulently conducting the business of Avid and Namangol Investments.The seven have to attend another pre-trial hearing in the High Court on October 16.Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small represented the State with the hearing of the application a fortnight ago.Christie Mostert represented Podewiltz and the Blaauws.