Elindis appeal against Namcor bail ruling

Businessman brothers Peter and Malakia Elindi have filed an appeal against the judgement in which their applications to be granted bail were refused in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court at the end of last week.

A notice stating that the Elindis are appealing against the bail ruling of magistrate Linus Samunzala was filed at the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

One of the other accused in the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) fraud and corruption case, former Namcor manager Olivia Dunaiski, whose application for bail was also refused on Friday, will be appealing against Samunzala’s decision as well, Dunaiski’s defence lawyer, Gilroy Kasper, said yesterday.

Fellow defence lawyer Francois Bangamwabo, who is representing former Namcor managing director Imms Mulunga and former Namcor finance executive Jennifer Hamukwaya, whose applications to be granted bail were likewise refused by Samunzala, yesterday said he is still studying the magistrate’s ruling and consulting with his clients to determine the way forward.

Samunzala said in his ruling that although it was not shown the six accused who applied for bail are likely to flee or interfere with state witnesses or the investigation of their case if released on bail, in his view it is not in the public interest or interest of the administration of justice that the accused be granted bail.

Samunzala said it was apparent from the evidence that the accused, with the exception of Dunaiski, “contradicted themselves in material respects, both in their evidence in chief and during cross-examination”, and that their evidence “was riddled with material contradictions and falsehood”.

The magistrate concluded that the six accused failed to show to the court that they are good candidates for bail.

The accused in the matter are alleged to have defrauded Namcor and to have committed corruption through the purchase of filling station assets by a Namcor subsidiary, Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution (Namcor Trading), for N$53.2 million from a fuel company of the Elindis, Enercon Namibia, in July 2022, and through the flouting of credit limits that Enercon and another fuel firm, Erongo Petroleum, had with Namcor.

In the appeal notice filed yesterday, lawyer Sisa Namandje, who is representing the Elindis, claims the judgement delivered by Samunzala “is replete with serious errors, misdirections and reveals a complete failure of a bail inquiry”.

He also alleges the magistrate “disregarded and mischaracterised various issues particularly those in favour of the appellants [the Elindis] and ignored the true facts and legal issues as presented by the parties”.

There was a “failure to properly and fairly consider issues raised”, and a “poor, selective and unfair assessment of factual and legal issues”, Namandje claims as well.

He further alleges that the magistrate “failed to truly hear” the Elindis and that he misdirected himself “when he adopted a selective approach generally favouring the [state’s] evidence (without good factual and legal justification) while on the other hand being quick to reject the [Elindis’] evidence without a good factual and legal justification”.

Namandje also states about the magistrate in the appeal notice: “He adopted a hostile approach when considering the [Elindis’] evidence when he unjustifiably and generally branded their evidence as ‘blatant lies’ while almost blindly and unquestionably embracing the poor evidence of the investigating officer and ignoring the contradictions and inconsistencies in his evidence and his concessions, fabrications, and the antagonistic manner in which he testified.”

The six accused who applied for bail have been held in custody since their arrests during the second week of July.

They are scheduled to make their next appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on 20 November.

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