Court shuts down Avid

THE High Court yesterday issued a provisional order to shut down Avid Investments and began closing in on the company’s directors to trace N$30 million invested by the Social Security Commission (SSC).

The SSC launched an urgent application for Avid’s liquidation after the company had failed for two months to return the N$30 million investment, with interest, that it was given to manage in January. The SSC expected to get back about N$31,5 million with interest.Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote granted the request for the winding down of Avid amid a vague appeal from the firm’s lawyer, Shafimana Ueitele, that the case be postponed until Friday so that a certain Nicolaas Josia, the only person who could say where the money is, was back in Windhoek.”He is currently in Johannesburg attending to this matter,” said Ueitele in his plea.”He should be in Windhoek attending to this matter,” retorted Heathcote.It was not clear from the court how Josia came to know about the SSC money, but he is the chief executive of another asset management company called Namangol.Judge Heathcote also summoned Josia, former SSC manager Gideon Mulder, current and former directors of Avid – Chairperson Inez Gâses, Swapo Youth League Secretary and Deputy Minister of Works Paulus Kapia, former prosecutors Sharon Blaauw and Otniel Podewiltz – to testify in an inquiry about the whereabouts of the money.The inquiry will take place on Friday.The judge remarked that “something’s rotten in the land of Denmark”.”It’s public money, and if the court leaves it as it is, time will go by,” said the judge.SSC General Manager for Finance and Administration Avril Green has said in papers filed in court that he suspects Avid is part of a fraudulent scheme and fears that the public money is now at risk of disappearing without trace.Avid has given the SSC conflicting explanations about the status of the money but has failed to state exactly where the money is.Avid has failed to provide the security it promised as assurance that the SSC money, invested at a generous 14,5 per cent interest rate, will be kept in South Africa and repaid after four months.Ueitele, who did not hide that he was brought into the case late and was therefore without a clue, tried to assure the court and SSC that the public money “is not lost or swindled”.While the SSC was assured that the money was invested with Standard Chartered Bank of South Africa, some information obtained by the SSC said the money was invested in Uruguay.But Green’s affidavit was emphatic that the SSC doubted Avid’s credibility.Gases and Kapia have been named as the main players in securing the N$30 million from the SSC, with Kapia flexing political muscle, according to Green.The “respondent was applying pressure from higher political authority”.The “higher political authority” has not been named, but the SSC said it was told that the Swapo Youth League was a major shareholder of Avid.Avid’s shareholding remains a mystery.The list of shareholders that Avid gave to the SSC contains a conglomeration of names, including that of Trafalgar Investments CC, among whose owners are Gases and Belinda Florence Kandara.No mention is made of Lazarus Kandara, who at one point was the chief executive of Avid Investments.Kandara was also a main figure in the questionable investment deals with the SSC four years ago.Lazarus Kandara is the main person behind Avid, Insight magazine has established.The SSC funds come from a form of tax levied on workers and companies.The funds are used to pay sick leave, maternity, disability, retirement and death benefits for those registered as members.Its membership is compulsory by legislation.Avid has been given until August 15 to prepare its argument why the liquidation order must not be made a final order.Traced in Johannesburg yesterday, Josia said he would comment only when he was back in Windhoek.* Tangeni Amupadhi is a freelance journalistThe SSC expected to get back about N$31,5 million with interest.Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote granted the request for the winding down of Avid amid a vague appeal from the firm’s lawyer, Shafimana Ueitele, that the case be postponed until Friday so that a certain Nicolaas Josia, the only person who could say where the money is, was back in Windhoek.”He is currently in Johannesburg attending to this matter,” said Ueitele in his plea.”He should be in Windhoek attending to this matter,” retorted Heathcote.It was not clear from the court how Josia came to know about the SSC money, but he is the chief executive of another asset management company called Namangol.Judge Heathcote also summoned Josia, former SSC manager Gideon Mulder, current and former directors of Avid – Chairperson Inez Gâses, Swapo Youth League Secretary and Deputy Minister of Works Paulus Kapia, former prosecutors Sharon Blaauw and Otniel Podewiltz – to testify in an inquiry about the whereabouts of the money.The inquiry will take place on Friday.The judge remarked that “something’s rotten in the land of Denmark”.”It’s public money, and if the court leaves it as it is, time will go by,” said the judge.SSC General Manager for Finance and Administration Avril Green has said in papers filed in court that he suspects Avid is part of a fraudulent scheme and fears that the public money is now at risk of disappearing without trace. Avid has given the SSC conflicting explanations about the status of the money but has failed to state exactly where the money is.Avid has failed to provide the security it promised as assurance that the SSC money, invested at a generous 14,5 per cent interest rate, will be kept in South Africa and repaid after four months.Ueitele, who did not hide that he was brought into the case late and was therefore without a clue, tried to assure the court and SSC that the public money “is not lost or swindled”.While the SSC was assured that the money was invested with Standard Chartered Bank of South Africa, some information obtained by the SSC said the money was invested in Uruguay.But Green’s affidavit was emphatic that the SSC doubted Avid’s credibility.Gases and Kapia have been named as the main players in securing the N$30 million from the SSC, with Kapia flexing political muscle, according to Green.The “respondent was applying pressure from higher political authority”.The “higher political authority” has not been named, but the SSC said it was told that the Swapo Youth League was a major shareholder of Avid.Avid’s shareholding remains a mystery.The list of shareholders that Avid gave to the SSC contains a conglomeration of names, including that of Trafalgar Investments CC, among whose owners are Gases and Belinda Florence Kandara.No mention is made of Lazarus Kandara, who at one point was the chief executive of Avid Investments.Kandara was also a main figure in the questionable investment deals with the SSC four years ago.Lazarus Kandara is the main person behind Avid, Insight magazine has established.The SSC funds come from a form of tax levied on workers and companies.The funds are used to pay sick leave, maternity, disability, retirement and death benefits for those registered as members.Its membership is compulsory by legislation.Avid has been given until August 15 to prepare its argument why the liquidation order must not be made a final order.Traced in Johannesburg yesterday, Josia said he would comment only when he was back in Windhoek.* Tangeni Amupadhi is a freelance journalist