Ex-NBC chief back in court

THE fraud trial of former Namibian Broadcasting Corporation Director General Gerry Munyama and a co-accused, Engelbrecht Theodor, resumed in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday after an interruption of more than half a year.

Seven and a half months after the withdrawal of Munyama’s defence counsel, Herman Oosthuizen, brought his trial before Judge Kato van Niekerk to a halt only three days after its start, Munyama (53) and Theodor (43) were back in the dock before Judge Van Niekerk and their trial got under way again.With the resumption of the trial, Munyama’s new defence counsel, Boris Isaacks, started with his cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness in the trial, former NBC Internal Audit Manager Jakes Jacobs.Munyama and Theodor are jointly charged with a count of fraud. Munyama is also charged with counts of forgery and uttering and an alternative charge of theft under the main charge of fraud.Theodor faces the fraud charge and two alternative charges of theft and theft by false pretences.Munyama and Theodor pleaded not guilty to all of the charges when their trial started on February 3.The charges against them are based on allegations that Munyama had used a forged NBC Board resolution to open a bank account in the NBC’s name in mid-May 2005. After Munyama had opened the ‘NBC Executive Account’ with Standard Bank Namibia, cheques totalling N$345 995,88 that were due to the NBC were paid into the account. Between May 17 and November 15 2005 Munyama went on to withdraw that money from the account for his personal use, it is charged.When he opened the account, Munyama gave his home address as the registered address for the account and gave a postal address belonging to his wife and a business partner of hers as the postal address for the account, the prosecution is also charging.It is also alleged that two cheques, totalling N$244 750, were drawn on the account that had been opened by Munyama and on which he had the sole signing powers. It is alleged that these cheques were then paid to a close corporation in which Theodor had an interest, Khomas Engineering CC, and that Theodor withdrew the money originating from these cheques from Khomas Engineering’s bank account and used this money himself or gave it to Munyama.Jacobs has told the court that the NBC did not have any bank account under the name ‘NBC Executive Account’ in its accounting records. When he investigated the account after it had been discovered, he saw that several withdrawals through cheques made out as ‘Cash’ were made from the account, Jacobs testified. He said he found that strange, because in his experience NBC cheques would not be made out as ‘Cash’, but instead in the name of the company that had for instance done work for the NBC.Under cross-examination from Isaacks yesterday, Jacobs said the practice at the NBC was that at least two people had to sign cheques issued by the corporation.He said he investigated three contracts that Khomas Engineering CC had with the NBC to install air conditioning systems at NBC premises at Oshakati, Tsumkwe and Gam.He agreed with Isaacks when the defence lawyer said that it was procedurally wrong to have used the ‘NBC Executive Account’ to issue cheques to pay creditors of the NBC.Isaacks told Jacobs that according to his instructions from Munyama, the NBC had an income of about N$123,79 million in 2004/05, while its spending that year ran to about N$140,46 million. His instructions are that the NBC was in a mess financially, Isaacks said.Jacobs agreed with that view.Munyama would go further to say that the NBC was ‘basically technically insolvent’, Isaacks continued. Jacobs also agreed with that view.Sitting in such a financial mess, with suppliers breathing down his neck for their invoices to be paid, Munyama then did something that was procedurally wrong by opening another NBC bank account, Isaacks continued.He said while Munyama should under normal circumstances have obtained authorisation for payments to be made to suppliers of the NBC, he was not faced with a normal situation and as a result ‘bypassed the system’ in the manner that he used the ‘NBC Executive Account’.The payments that he made to Khomas Engineering CC were made under pressure against an invoice that had been presented to the NBC, Isaacks said. Jacobs disagreed. He said no such invoices were found in the course of his investigation.The trial continues today.Gerson Hinda and Marlene Tommasi are representing Theodor. State advocate Ed Marondedze is prosecuting.