Green to defend N$3m Nujoma law suit

AVRIL GREEN, a former manager at the Social Security Commission (SSC), who is being sued for N$3 million by former President Sam Nujoma, has instructed his lawyers to file a notice to defend.

Nujoma instituted the claim following an allegation Green made in an affidavit during last year’s Companies Act inquiry into the missing SSC investment of N$30 million. In the affidavit, which formed part of the testimony during the headline-grabbing SSC-Avid inquiry last year, Green claimed he had been approached by Ralph Blaauw, a former Swapo MP, on January 3 last year.”He [Blaauw] told me that he had been sent by a higher authority to introduce Avid Investment Corporation (Pty) Ltd to the SSC.”He told me that he represents Avid …and that 80 per cent of the shares in the Investment Company belongs to the Swapo Party Youth League which resorts under the President of Namibia.He also told me that the President had a share in the company but that it would not be disclosed anywhere,” Green said in the affidavit.The next day The Namibian carried a report, headlined ‘Nujoma named in Avid scandal’, based on Green’s affidavit.Nujoma then called a media briefing at which he denied Green’s allegation.The former President has since claimed damages of N$5 million against the newspaper and senior journalist Werner Menges.The Namibian has instructed its lawyers to defend the case.Yesterday, Green’s lawyers, Metcalfe Legal Practitioners, wrote to Nujoma’s lawyers, Sisa Namandje and Associates, indicating that, although they were still waiting for the N$3 million summons, their client had given them the go-ahead to defend his case.There was confusion on Monday about whether Green had in fact received a summons.By yesterday afternoon, all indications were that the deputy sheriff of the court at Okahandja, Edgar Brendt Cowley, had served the wrong summons on Marilyn Cloete on September 22 at 183 Ossman Street.Cloete received the summons on behalf of Green.”It is obvious that the Deputy Sheriff has made an error and has not served our client with the correct particulars of claim,” lawyer Richard Metcalfe said in a letter to Namandje.He said Cloete was willing to testify that she had received the wrong papers – the summons issued against The Namibian newspaper and Menges.Namandje’s office furnished a copy of the return-of-service document and the summons to Metcalfe’s office on Monday morning.Green was fired by the Social Security Commission in March after an internal disciplinary hearing found him guilty of gross negligence and dereliction of duty for his role in transferring N$30 million in SSC funds to Avid Investment Corporation.In the affidavit, which formed part of the testimony during the headline-grabbing SSC-Avid inquiry last year, Green claimed he had been approached by Ralph Blaauw, a former Swapo MP, on January 3 last year.”He [Blaauw] told me that he had been sent by a higher authority to introduce Avid Investment Corporation (Pty) Ltd to the SSC.”He told me that he represents Avid …and that 80 per cent of the shares in the Investment Company belongs to the Swapo Party Youth League which resorts under the President of Namibia.He also told me that the President had a share in the company but that it would not be disclosed anywhere,” Green said in the affidavit.The next day The Namibian carried a report, headlined ‘Nujoma named in Avid scandal’, based on Green’s affidavit. Nujoma then called a media briefing at which he denied Green’s allegation.The former President has since claimed damages of N$5 million against the newspaper and senior journalist Werner Menges.The Namibian has instructed its lawyers to defend the case.Yesterday, Green’s lawyers, Metcalfe Legal Practitioners, wrote to Nujoma’s lawyers, Sisa Namandje and Associates, indicating that, although they were still waiting for the N$3 million summons, their client had given them the go-ahead to defend his case.There was confusion on Monday about whether Green had in fact received a summons.By yesterday afternoon, all indications were that the deputy sheriff of the court at Okahandja, Edgar Brendt Cowley, had served the wrong summons on Marilyn Cloete on September 22 at 183 Ossman Street.Cloete received the summons on behalf of Green.”It is obvious that the Deputy Sheriff has made an error and has not served our client with the correct particulars of claim,” lawyer Richard Metcalfe said in a letter to Namandje.He said Cloete was willing to testify that she had received the wrong papers – the summons issued against The Namibian newspaper and Menges.Namandje’s office furnished a copy of the return-of-service document and the summons to Metcalfe’s office on Monday morning.Green was fired by the Social Security Commission in March after an internal disciplinary hearing found him guilty of gross negligence and dereliction of duty for his role in transferring N$30 million in SSC funds to Avid Investment Corporation.