Enercon used Namcor funds to pay its own debt, ACC investigator reveals

The fuel company Enercon Namibia used money of the state-owned National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) to pay debt of N$35 million that it owed to a Namcor subsidiary in 2022.

After selling fuel station assets at Namibian Defence Force bases to a Namcor subsidiary, Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution, in July 2022 and receiving N$53.2 million from the company, Enercon paid N$35 million of that money back to the Namcor company to clear the debt it had with the firm, Anti-Corruption Commission investigator Oberty Inambao testified in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

“Basically, Enercon paid the debt it had with Namcor with Namcor’s money,” Inambao said.

He gave this evidence while testifying during a bail hearing of six individuals arrested four weeks ago and charged in connection with alleged fraud and corruption at Namcor.

He told magistrate Linus Samunzala the service station assets that Enercon sold to the Namcor company were encumbered to the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs and were to become to ministry’s property in 2031, at the end of a 15-year fuel supply agreement between Enercon and the ministry.

After paying N$53.2 million for the assets, Namcor has never used the service stations it supposedly bought, Inambao said.

“Enercon did not sell anything to Namcor to date,” he stated.

“Namcor never took ownership of any assets,” Inambao also said.

He told the magistrate as well: “Having looked at how the distribution of the funds received from Namcor was applied, and taking into consideration that Namcor had bought assets which they never used from 19 July 2022 to date, it was concluded that the asset purchase agreement was simply a vehicle or an instrument that was used to enable the money to be paid to Namcor Trading.”

Enercon had a credit limit of N$15.5 million with the Namcor company in terms of a fuel supply agreement signed in March 2022, but by 19 July 2022, when the amount of N$53.2 million was paid to Enercon, it had exceeded that credit limit by at least N$20 million, Inambao said.

He related that after N$18 million was paid into an account of Enercon – that was part of the total amount of N$53.2 million paid by Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution – N$9.5 million was paid on the same date, 19 July 2022, to the close corporation Eco Trading of Victor Malima, who is also wanted in connection with the Namcor fraud and corruption case.

The next day, N$1.04 million was paid by Eco Trading to Parkwood Petroleum Logistics CC, a close corporation of former Namcor supply and logistics manager Cedric Willemse, Inambao said.

He added: “This was the very same money which was paid by his employer at the time to Enercon.”

Willemse is one of the individuals arrested and charged four weeks ago. He is present in the dock during the bail hearing, but is not applying to be granted bail at this stage.

Inambao continued that N$1.47 million was also paid from Eco Trading’s bank account to a bank account of the close corporation Quality Meat Supplies, of which Malima is the beneficial owner, and that N$960 000 was then paid from the account of Quality Meat Supplies to a personal bank account of Willemse.

“This money was still the very same money which was initially paid by Namcor to Enercon and from Enercon to Eco Trading and from Eco Trading to Quality Meat Supplies,” Inambao said.

Willemse received gratification of at least N$2 million through Enercon and Eco Trading, Inambao added.

An amount of N$500 000 was also paid from Quality Meat Supplies’ account to an account of Panduleni Farming CC, which is a close corporation of the husband of former Namcor finance executive Jennifer Hamukwaya, Inambao testified. He noted that Hamukwaya received an invoice for the payment of N$53.2 million from Enercon by email during the morning of 19 July 2022.

During the same day, Hamukwaya instructed a subordinate to initiate the process to pay the N$53.2 million to Enercon, Inambao said.

He also testified that Enercon paid N$3.6 million to the close corporation Onyeka Clearing and Forwarding of businessman Malakia Elindi and his wife, Lydia Elindi, immediately after Enercon had received the payment of N$18 million from Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution.

From the account of Onyeka Clearing and Forwarding, payments of N$1.5 million each were then made to Malakia and his brother and business partner Peter Elindi, Inambao recounted.

He is due to continue with his testimony today.

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