Ex NBC boss makes admissions

ALMOST five years after former Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) boss Gerry Munyama was arrested, he yesterday gave the High Court a glimpse of his version of the charges of fraud, forgery and uttering he is facing.

Munyama is now admitting that he opened a bank account without authorisation ‘to channel money received on behalf of NBC away from the overdraft account at First National Bank (FNB) and use the money for operational expenditures’.Munyama (54) furthermore admitted that he had used a forged NBC board resolution dated May 16 2005 printed on an official NBC letterhead to open the NBC Executive Account with Standard Bank.In the statement submitted to Judge Kato van Niekerk yesterday afternoon, Munyama said he had deposited N$25 000 and N$345 996 into this account on June 1 2005 and July of the same year.From these deposited amounts, he told the Court that he withdrew a total amount of N$345 470 – N$244 750 had been paid over to Khomas Engineering. His co-accused in the trial, Engelbrecht Theodor (44), was a partner in this firm at the time. Munyama did not tell the court how the rest of the withdrawn money – N$100 720 – had been spent.Munyama yesterday afternoon confirmed to Judge Van Niekerk that he had not been forced, threatened or unduly influenced to make the admissions.However, State Advocate Ed Marondedze was not satisfied that the admissions constituted a sufficient guilty plea and decided to proceed with the trial. The four-page statement was read by Munyama’s lawyer Boris Isaacks, who was instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid to represent Munyama.The former DG was arrested on November 28 2005 and released on bail of N$20 000 the next day.Munyama and Theodor are accused of one charge of fraud each, while Munyama was also charged with one count each of forgery and uttering.Engelbrecht was arrested on November 8 2007 – almost two years after his co-accused – and released the next day on bail of N$5 000.Munyama had exclusive access and signing rights to the Standard Bank account, he admitted. He told the Court that he knew that the resolution extract ‘was not genuine’, that the NBC board vice-chairman had not signed the extract and that he had not been authorised by the board to open the account.Yesterday afternoon, Marondedze called a former NBC General Manager, Ruben Prinz, as the prosecution’s next witness. Prinz, who was responsible for technical services, said although Munyama was, as DG, authorised to deal directly with suppliers, he would have had to provide documentation to the NBC’s finance department to authorise payment to any third parties.Prinz’s cross-examination is expected to get underway this morning.Theodor is represented by Gerson Hinda.

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