Financial watchdog says that its hands were tied

THE authenticity of a letter signed by Avid directors appointing Lazarus Kandara as the Chief Executive Officer of Avid Investment Corporation came under the spotlight at the start of proceedings in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Boni Paulino, General Manager of Investment Institutions in the Namibia Financial Institutions’ Supervisory Authority (Namfisa), was asked whether he thought that two documents – one appointing Kandara as CEO and another appointing his cousin, Inez /Gâses, as Board Chairperson with signing powers – which accompanied Avid’s registration application to Namfisa, were in fact genuine. In their testimony, the directors of Avid all denied ever taking a resolution that confirmed Kandara as CEO of Avid.Mel Harmse, legal counsel for Avid director Sharon Blaauw and her husband Ralph Blaauw, said that the signatures of /Gâses, Blaauw, Paulus Kapia, Deputy Minister of Works and Otniel Podewiltz appeared in exactly the same space on both pages and that the signatures were identical in all respects, creating doubt as to whether they were actually signed by these individuals, or were specimens that were precisely placed by means of technology.Paulino said he had not noticed this when the application was handed in and could not say for certain whether this was so.Kapia’s legal counsel, Sisa Namandje, also wondered whether the signatures on these documents might not be authentic.When Kandara took the stand after Paulino, Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote immediately continued this line of questioning but Kandara insisted that he went to all the parties involved to obtain their signatures.”Did you not have their signatures on computer and then make whatever resolutions you want?” asked Heathcote suspiciously.But Kandara stuck to his guns.According to him, he even went to the Parliament buildings where Sharon Blaauw worked at the time, to obtain her signature.Again, former President Sam Nujoma’s decision to keep the recommendations and findings of the Social Security Commission Inquiry two years ago under wraps came back to haunt the SSC when Heathcote asked Paulino whether he knew about Kandara’s previous involvement with the SSC in relation to the presidential inquiry.He also wanted to know from Paulino whether he did not consider the fact that Podewiltz was the legal counsel in that inquiry and later appointed as a director of Avid as a possible conflict of interest.Paulino replied that with no conclusion on wrongdoings ever made known from the presidential inquiry and without conclusive evidence to support the assertions made then, Namfisa had no basis on which to consider it inappropriate to register a company headed by Kandara.He said Namfisa did not “apply its mind” as to whether Podewiltz posed a possible conflict of interest in Avid’s case.The legal counsel for Podewiltz, Dirk Conradie, objected to his client’s relationship with Avid being considered a conflict of interest.He said the SSC presidential inquiry concluded almost a year before Podewiltz was approached to be a director.But the SSC legal counsel’s Andrew Corbett said Podewiltz was at present still involved as the chairperson of a task team into ongoing activities in the aftermath of the inquiry, to bring about reform at the SSC.Kandara’s lawyer Lucius Murorua claimed to the Acting Judge that it was only whenever “we are involved” (ostensibly meaning previously disadvantaged) that such situations were considered a conflict of interest and not so for other colour groups, citing the example of veteran businessman Harold Pupkewitz, whom he said held several positions that might also be considered a conflict of interest.In their testimony, the directors of Avid all denied ever taking a resolution that confirmed Kandara as CEO of Avid.Mel Harmse, legal counsel for Avid director Sharon Blaauw and her husband Ralph Blaauw, said that the signatures of /Gâses, Blaauw, Paulus Kapia, Deputy Minister of Works and Otniel Podewiltz appeared in exactly the same space on both pages and that the signatures were identical in all respects, creating doubt as to whether they were actually signed by these individuals, or were specimens that were precisely placed by means of technology.Paulino said he had not noticed this when the application was handed in and could not say for certain whether this was so.Kapia’s legal counsel, Sisa Namandje, also wondered whether the signatures on these documents might not be authentic.When Kandara took the stand after Paulino, Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote immediately continued this line of questioning but Kandara insisted that he went to all the parties involved to obtain their signatures.”Did you not have their signatures on computer and then make whatever resolutions you want?” asked Heathcote suspiciously.But Kandara stuck to his guns.According to him, he even went to the Parliament buildings where Sharon Blaauw worked at the time, to obtain her signature.Again, former President Sam Nujoma’s decision to keep the recommendations and findings of the Social Security Commission Inquiry two years ago under wraps came back to haunt the SSC when Heathcote asked Paulino whether he knew about Kandara’s previous involvement with the SSC in relation to the presidential inquiry.He also wanted to know from Paulino whether he did not consider the fact that Podewiltz was the legal counsel in that inquiry and later appointed as a director of Avid as a possible conflict of interest.Paulino replied that with no conclusion on wrongdoings ever made known from the presidential inquiry and without conclusive evidence to support the assertions made then, Namfisa had no basis on which to consider it inappropriate to register a company headed by Kandara.He said Namfisa did not “apply its mind” as to whether Podewiltz posed a possible conflict of interest in Avid’s case.The legal counsel for Podewiltz, Dirk Conradie, objected to his client’s relationship with Avid being considered a conflict of interest.He said the SSC presidential inquiry concluded almost a year before Podewiltz was approached to be a director.But the SSC legal counsel’s Andrew Corbett said Podewiltz was at present still involved as the chairperson of a task team into ongoing activities in the aftermath of the inquiry, to bring about reform at the SSC.Kandara’s lawyer Lucius Murorua claimed to the Acting Judge that it was only whenever “we are involved” (ostensibly meaning previously disadvantaged) that such situations were considered a conflict of interest and not so for other colour groups, citing the example of veteran businessman Harold Pupkewitz, whom he said held several positions that might also be considered a conflict of interest.