Former National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) finance executive Jennifer Hamukwaya is denying that she received payments totalling N$1.45 million from fuel firms that did business with Namcor.
Hamukwaya during a bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday denied that she received money from the fuel company Enercon Namibia and the close corporations Erongo Petroleum and Oshali Fuel Centre.
She made the denial in response to an allegation by the state that she corruptly accepted gratification in an amount of N$1.45 million from Enercon, Erongo Petroleum and Oshali Fuel Centre between May 2022 and May 2023. The state is also alleging that Hamukwaya corruptly authorised the supply of petroleum products to the three firms, resulting in a loss of N$274 million to Namcor after the state-owned company was allegedly not paid for fuel products it had delivered to the firms.
“I did not receive any money from Enercon,” Hamukwaya said when asked by defence lawyer Francois Bangamwabo, who is representing her, whether she received N$500 000 from Enercon in July 2022, after Namcor’s subsidiary Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution had bought service station assets from Enercon for N$53.2 million.
The state is alleging in a charge of money laundering against Hamukwaya that she received N$500 000 from Enercon through a bank account of the close corporation Panduleni Farming, of which her husband, Panduleni Hamukwaya, is a member.
On a question whether Panduleni Farming transferred any money into her bank account, Hamukwaya answered: “No, they did not.”
She said the close corporation was run solely by her husband – who is also charged in connection with alleged fraud and corruption at Namcor – and that she is not a member of the close corporation, although she is a signatory to its bank account.
The income received by Panduleni Farming CC relates to farming activities, Hamukwaya added.
She also told magistrate Linus Samunzala the supply of fuel products by Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution was not part of her functions as finance executive of Namcor.
Hamukwaya said she, former Namcor managing director Imms Mulunga and former Namcor supply and logistics manager Cedric Willemse were members of a credit committee that made decisions about extending credit to Namcor customers.
When she left Namcor at the end of April 2023, there were no disciplinary proceedings pending against her about the granting of credit limits to customers, she said.
Mulunga and Willemse are the co-accused of Hamukwaya in the same case.
Allegations that she did not take due care of Namcor’s interests are false, Hamukwaya also said in her testimony.
She further said an allegation that she and other former Namcor executives gave petroleum products away for free by supplying it to customers that failed to pay Namcor are “false and misleading”.
Financial records show that Erongo Petroleum made monthly payments to Namcor, including payments of N$16.9 million in September 2022, N$17 million in October 2022, N$23 million in January 2023, N$21 million in February 2023 and N$50 million in March 2023, Hamukwaya said.
Erongo Petroleum was paying Namcor for products supplied to it until the time she left the company, she also said.
She gave this testimony in response to a charge in which the state is accusing her of corruptly using her position at Namcor for gratification by authorising the supply of fuel to Enercon and Erongo Petroleum beyond their approved credit limits, resulting in an alleged loss of N$274 million to Namcor. In the same charge, the state is also alleging that Erongo Petroleum had a cumulative debt of N$70.7 million that it owed to Namcor between March and December 2022.
Hamukwaya, who was arrested nearly four weeks ago, is facing five charges, including counts of fraud, corruptly using a position for gratification, corruptly accepting gratification and money laundering.
She told the magistrate on Friday that she is able to pay N$10 000 to be released on bail.
The bail hearing is continuing.
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