Focus at DBC probe switches to Amcom

THE board of Amalgamated Commercial Holdings (Amcom) put a stop to the process of privatising its companies without providing any reason for the action, a presidential commission of inquiry into the company’s collapse heard yesterday.

This happened in 1998, a few months before Cabinet ordered that Amcom be merged with the Namibia Development Corporation because it was not fulfilling its intended role. The hearing’s focus has shifted from the activities of the Development Brigade Corporation (DBC) to those of Amcom, with the commission calling its first witness, chartered accountant Robert O’Hanlon.O’Hanlon, through the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche, was appointed by the Amcom board in February 1998 to advise it and present proposals on selling off its enterprises.This, O’Hanlon said, followed a Cabinet resolution that Amcom look into privatising its commercial holdings.But by May of that year, the board suspended the project and instead ordered that Deloitte and Touche submit a report on its findings to date.”We were never given clear and comprehensive reasons for the suspension,” said O’Hanlon.The company received N$800 000 for work valued at N$1,2 million after a legal battle for payment with Amcom.O’Hanlon yesterday told the commission that his team of consultants was responsible for gathering information about each entity, putting a value on each, ordering them according to which would be most ready to be sold off and determining their benefits for empowering the disadvantaged.The consultants were also to consider how changes in any of the businesses would affect the community they served.When the project was called off, the consultants had reached different stages of investigations into a multitude of business including supermarket chains, guest houses, car dealerships, bakeries and hardware stores.O’Hanlon said that it was difficult to put a figure on the total value of the Amcom companies because at the time the project was stopped, only partial assessments had been done of some businesses; other entities like a farm, motel, six guest houses and 275 residential units had not been valued at all.From the figures he provided, those companies on which a reserve price was set had a total value of around N$40 million at the time.The consultants found that while certain businesses like the Toyota car dealerships and hardware shops at Oshakati, Rundu and Katima Mulilo were performing reasonably well, others like the Powersave shopping group with outlets at Ondangwa, Opuwo, Katima Mulilo and Khorixas had not done so well and collectively were only valued at N$7 million.A bakery at Oshakati also suffered huge operational losses.According to O’Hanlon, there was a reasonably high public interest in buying the car dealerships and a filling station at Okatana, which was valued at N$450 000, and the Khorixas Rest Camp which had an upset price of N$2 million.The hearing’s focus has shifted from the activities of the Development Brigade Corporation (DBC) to those of Amcom, with the commission calling its first witness, chartered accountant Robert O’Hanlon.O’Hanlon, through the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche, was appointed by the Amcom board in February 1998 to advise it and present proposals on selling off its enterprises.This, O’Hanlon said, followed a Cabinet resolution that Amcom look into privatising its commercial holdings.But by May of that year, the board suspended the project and instead ordered that Deloitte and Touche submit a report on its findings to date.”We were never given clear and comprehensive reasons for the suspension,” said O’Hanlon.The company received N$800 000 for work valued at N$1,2 million after a legal battle for payment with Amcom.O’Hanlon yesterday told the commission that his team of consultants was responsible for gathering information about each entity, putting a value on each, ordering them according to which would be most ready to be sold off and determining their benefits for empowering the disadvantaged.The consultants were also to consider how changes in any of the businesses would affect the community they served.When the project was called off, the consultants had reached different stages of investigations into a multitude of business including supermarket chains, guest houses, car dealerships, bakeries and hardware stores.O’Hanlon said that it was difficult to put a figure on the total value of the Amcom companies because at the time the project was stopped, only partial assessments had been done of some businesses; other entities like a farm, motel, six guest houses and 275 residential units had not been valued at all.From the figures he provided, those companies on which a reserve price was set had a total value of around N$40 million at the time.The consultants found that while certain businesses like the Toyota car dealerships and hardware shops at Oshakati, Rundu and Katima Mulilo were performing reasonably well, others like the Powersave shopping group with outlets at Ondangwa, Opuwo, Katima Mulilo and Khorixas had not done so well and collectively were only valued at N$7 million.A bakery at Oshakati also suffered huge operational losses.According to O’Hanlon, there was a reasonably high public interest in buying the car dealerships and a filling station at Okatana, which was valued at N$450 000, and the Khorixas Rest Camp which had an upset price of N$2 million.