Former NBC boss claims he’s not guilty …

THE axed former Director General of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, Gerry Munyama, yesterday pleaded not guilty to all charges that he faces in connection with an allegation that he stole close to N$350 000 from the financially struggling parastatal.

Munyama (51), who was arrested on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering on November 29 2005 – two weeks after he was suspended as NBC Director General, and four days after he had resigned – pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud, an alternative charge of theft, and a count of forgery and uttering that Public Prosecutor Petrus Grusshaber put to him when he made a fifth appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court. Late last year it was reported that Munyama had written a letter to the NBC Board Chairman in which he made a plea for clemency from the public broadcaster and offered to forfeit his pension with the parastatal in return for having both the pending criminal case and civil legal action against him withdrawn.”(T)o err is, regrettably, human, but it is more divinely and progressively a sign of maturity, Christianity and statesmanship to caution, pardon and forgive,” Munyama was reported to have stated in that letter, which did not receive a favourable reply from the NBC Board.There was none of this sort of request for forgiveness from Munyama in court yesterday.Instead, his lawyer, Richard Mueller, told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba that Munyama chose to remain silent on the basis of his defence to the charges, and that he would rather await the decision of the Prosecutor General on his case.Grusshaber asked the Magistrate to postpone Munyama’s case to June 4, for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be made in the meantime.Munyama remains free on bail of N$20 000.With his appearance in court yesterday, the charges that he faces have for the first time been revealed in detail in official court documentation.The first charge against Munyama is a count of fraud.In this charge it is alleged that he had pretended to Standard Bank and an employee of the bank on May 17 2005 that he was entitled, in terms of a resolution taken at an NBC Board meeting, to open an ‘NBC Executive Account’ and to exclusively handle the account.When he allegedly did that, it is charged, he knew that the claimed Board resolution was in fact false, with the result that he was not entitled to open the bank account and withdraw funds from it for his own benefit.Munyama also allegedly pretended to the bank that he was authorised to deposit three cheques – in amounts of N$307 145, N$13 850,88 and N$25 000 respectively – into the account that he had opened, and that he was further entitled to withdraw and transfer funds from the account again.The result of the allegedly fraudulent opening of the account and subsequent withdrawals from the account was that the NBC lost an amount of N$345 995,88, it is claimed.In an alternative to the fraud charge, Munyama faces a count of theft.On that charge he is accused of stealing N$345 995,88 from the NBC on May 17 2005.The second main charge against Munyama is a count of forgery and uttering a forged instrument.Here it is alleged that Munyama on May 16 2005 forged a resolution of the NBC Board meeting that was held on March 15 2005, and that he on May 16 2005, with the intention to defraud, offered that forged document to Standard Bank.Late last year it was reported that Munyama had written a letter to the NBC Board Chairman in which he made a plea for clemency from the public broadcaster and offered to forfeit his pension with the parastatal in return for having both the pending criminal case and civil legal action against him withdrawn.”(T)o err is, regrettably, human, but it is more divinely and progressively a sign of maturity, Christianity and statesmanship to caution, pardon and forgive,” Munyama was reported to have stated in that letter, which did not receive a favourable reply from the NBC Board.There was none of this sort of request for forgiveness from Munyama in court yesterday. Instead, his lawyer, Richard Mueller, told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba that Munyama chose to remain silent on the basis of his defence to the charges, and that he would rather await the decision of the Prosecutor General on his case.Grusshaber asked the Magistrate to postpone Munyama’s case to June 4, for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be made in the meantime.Munyama remains free on bail of N$20 000.With his appearance in court yesterday, the charges that he faces have for the first time been revealed in detail in official court documentation.The first charge against Munyama is a count of fraud.In this charge it is alleged that he had pretended to Standard Bank and an employee of the bank on May 17 2005 that he was entitled, in terms of a resolution taken at an NBC Board meeting, to open an ‘NBC Executive Account’ and to exclusively handle the account.When he allegedly did that, it is charged, he knew that the claimed Board resolution was in fact false, with the result that he was not entitled to open the bank account and withdraw funds from it for his own benefit.Munyama also allegedly pretended to the bank that he was authorised to deposit three cheques – in amounts of N$307 145, N$13 850,88 and N$25 000 respectively – into the account that he had opened, and that he was further entitled to withdraw and transfer funds from the account again.The result of the allegedly fraudulent opening of the account and subsequent withdrawals from the account was that the NBC lost an amount of N$345 995,88, it is claimed.In an alternative to the fraud charge, Munyama faces a count of theft.On that charge he is accused of stealing N$345 995,88 from the NBC on May 17 2005.The second main charge against Munyama is a count of forgery and uttering a forged instrument.Here it is alleged that Munyama on May 16 2005 forged a resolution of the NBC Board meeting that was held on March 15 2005, and that he on May 16 2005, with the intention to defraud, offered that forged document to Standard Bank.