Josea SSC-Avid case postponed ‘a last time’

THE Police have at last wrapped up their investigation of the fraud case against Nico Josea, one of the main figures in the multi-million dollar Avid Investment Corporation scandal, Josea heard when he made his latest appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Close to two years and eight months have passed since Josea’s arrest on a charge of fraud, alternatively theft, in connection with the role that he played in a botched investment of N$30 million that the Social Security Commission made in early 2005. Making his eighth appearance on the charge in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Josea (45) heard Public Prosecutor Carol-Ann Esterhuizen tell Magistrate Vicky Nicolaidis that she could “say with pride that the investigation is now completed”.With Josea’s last appearance in court on October 30 last year one of his defence lawyers launched a heavy attack against a request from the prosecution for his case to be postponed once more for further investigations to be done.Magistrate Suzette Walters however granted the State a final postponement to Friday for further investigations to be carried out.When Esterhuizen again asked Magistrate Nicolaidis on Friday to postpone the case – this time for the Prosecutor General to make a decision on the further course the case would be taking – defence lawyer André Louw, representing Josea, again registered the defence’s objections to such a move, calling it “a mockery of the judicial system”.Louw said the Office of the Prosecutor General had given an assurance with Josea’s last appearance that not only would the investigation be concluded by Friday, but the Prosecutor General’s decision on the case would also be ready by then.Josea’s right to a speedy trial is being infringed, and any further postponement would only perpetuate the serious financial implications with which Josea has already had to deal for more than two and a half years, while the case against him remained hanging over his head, Louw said.He added that the State would not be prejudiced if it was forced to withdraw the case against Josea at this stage because the court refused a further postponement, as Josea could thereafter be summoned to again appear in court once the State has got its house in order.Esterhuizen told the court that she had been informed that the docket on Josea’s case was already at the Office of the Prosecutor General, which has only been waiting to receive the results of the last investigations that the Police have had to do in the matter.The investigating officer, Chief Inspector Willie Bampton, and a colleague returned from South Africa only on March 1 after wrapping up their investigations there, Esterhuizen said.Magistrate Nicolaidis told Josea that she appreciated the fact that he is entitled to a speedy trial and that it is a burden to have the charge hanging over him for such a long time.At the same time, though, the seriousness of the charge cannot be over-emphasised, and the amount of some N$29 million that is said to be involved in the case is unprecedented in Namibia, she added.She told Josea that he might well be exonerated at the end of his trial, but that she would for now grant the State a final postponement for the Prosecutor General’s decision in the matter to be taken.The Magistrate told Esterhuizen to make sure that her superiors are informed that the case has been postponed for the last time.An asset management firm that was run by Josea, Namangol Investments, played a key role in the sequence of events that followed on a decision by the SSC in early 2005 to trust an untested but politically well-connected asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, to invest N$30 million on the SSC’s behalf for four months.Having received N$30 million from the SSC to be invested on the parastatal’s behalf, Avid paid over N$29,5 million of this money to Namangol Investments.From Namangol’s bank account, the money started flowing in various directions, including N$20 million that was entrusted to a South African alleged investment broker, Alan Rosenberg, who later paid back N$15 million to Josea himself.Nothing of this money was however returned either to Avid or to the SSC.By early July 2005 the SSC launched legal proceedings to have Avid liquidated because it was unable to return the parastatal’s money.This step set in motion the events that led to Josea’s arrest on July 26 2005.On August 24 2005, the man in control of Avid, Lazarus Kandara, was also arrested, only to shoot himself in front of the Windhoek Police Station a few hours after his arrest.Kandara’s death has left Josea as the only person facing a criminal charge in connection with SSC’s business dealings with Avid.Josea remains free on bail of N$30 000, which was granted to him after he had spent just over three months in Police custody following his arrest.Making his eighth appearance on the charge in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Josea (45) heard Public Prosecutor Carol-Ann Esterhuizen tell Magistrate Vicky Nicolaidis that she could “say with pride that the investigation is now completed”. With Josea’s last appearance in court on October 30 last year one of his defence lawyers launched a heavy attack against a request from the prosecution for his case to be postponed once more for further investigations to be done.Magistrate Suzette Walters however granted the State a final postponement to Friday for further investigations to be carried out.When Esterhuizen again asked Magistrate Nicolaidis on Friday to postpone the case – this time for the Prosecutor General to make a decision on the further course the case would be taking – defence lawyer André Louw, representing Josea, again registered the defence’s objections to such a move, calling it “a mockery of the judicial system”.Louw said the Office of the Prosecutor General had given an assurance with Josea’s last appearance that not only would the investigation be concluded by Friday, but the Prosecutor General’s decision on the case would also be ready by then.Josea’s right to a speedy trial is being infringed, and any further postponement would only perpetuate the serious financial implications with which Josea has already had to deal for more than two and a half years, while the case against him remained hanging over his head, Louw said.He added that the State would not be prejudiced if it was forced to withdraw the case against Josea at this stage because the court refused a further postponement, as Josea could thereafter be summoned to again appear in court once the State has got its house in order.Esterhuizen told the court that she had been informed that the docket on Josea’s case was already at the Office of the Prosecutor General, which has only been waiting to receive the results of the last investigations that the Police have had to do in the matter.The investigating officer, Chief Inspector Willie Bampton, and a colleague returned from South Africa only on March 1 after wrapping up their investigations there, Esterhuizen said.Magistrate Nicolaidis told Josea that she appreciated the fact that he is entitled to a speedy trial and that it is a burden to have the charge hanging over him for such a long time.At the same time, though, the seriousness of the charge cannot be over-emphasised, and the amount of some N$29 million that is said to be involved in the case is unprecedented in Namibia, she added.She told Josea that he might well be exonerated at the end of his trial, but that she would for now grant the State a final postponement for the Prosecutor General’s decision in the matter to be taken.The Magistrate told Esterhuizen to make sure that her superiors are informed that the case has been postponed for the last time.An asset management firm that was run by Josea, Namangol Investments, played a key role in the sequence of events that followed on a decision by the SSC in early 2005 to trust an untested but politically well-connected asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, to invest N$30 million on the SSC’s behalf for four months.Having received N$30 million from the
SSC to be invested on the parastatal’s behalf, Avid paid over N$29,5 million of this money to Namangol Investments.From Namangol’s bank account, the money started flowing in various directions, including N$20 million that was entrusted to a South African alleged investment broker, Alan Rosenberg, who later paid back N$15 million to Josea himself.Nothing of this money was however returned either to Avid or to the SSC.By early July 2005 the SSC launched legal proceedings to have Avid liquidated because it was unable to return the parastatal’s money.This step set in motion the events that led to Josea’s arrest on July 26 2005.On August 24 2005, the man in control of Avid, Lazarus Kandara, was also arrested, only to shoot himself in front of the Windhoek Police Station a few hours after his arrest.Kandara’s death has left Josea as the only person facing a criminal charge in connection with SSC’s business dealings with Avid.Josea remains free on bail of N$30 000, which was granted to him after he had spent just over three months in Police custody following his arrest.