Lid finally lifted on Avid shareholding

THE Swapo Party Youth League was one of the shareholders of Avid Investment Corporation, and one of the League’s more prominent members, National Youth Council Acting Secretary General Ralph Blaauw, was a director in all but name, Avid mastermind Lazarus Kandara told the High Court yesterday.

Kandara in effect dismissed recent protestations from the Youth League, which objected to media reports of claims that it had or still has a stake in Avid, by telling Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote that the ruling party’s youth organ held a 10 per cent share in Avid. A trust company connected to the Secretary of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), Deputy Works, Transport and Communication Minister Paulus Kapia, also held 10 per cent of the shareholding in Avid, Kandara stated.He told the court that the shareholding of both the SPYL and Kapia’s Community Care Trust had been arranged through the middleman efforts of Blaauw.Kapia was a director of Avid until March 20, when he resigned from the company’s board.Another shareholder of Avid that Kandara identified was retired Namibia Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiweda, who he said held eight per cent of the shareholding in the company.Both Shiweda and Blaauw were supposed to be directors of Avid as well, but asked not to be reflected on paper as part of the company, Kandara told the court.Blaauw is a figure who has never been reflected on official documentation as having had a formal position in Avid.He has, however, featured more prominently in evidence about the company’s activities than has his wife, Sharon Blaauw, who has been a director of Avid since mid-April last year.PRIME MOVER The reason for Blaauw’s repeated appearance in evidence so far heard during the inquiry became apparent soon after Kandara started to give evidence yesterday: according to him, Blaauw had been asked to join the company’s board, but he suggested that his wife should be made a director instead.Blaauw then in any event went on to play an active role in the company’s affairs, while his wife passively disappeared into the background, Kandara claimed.Why Blaauw would not openly become a director he did not know, he replied when Acting Judge Heathcote asked a question on that score.Avid Investment Corporation had been his brainchild, Kandara told the court: “I was the person who was behind the idea and everything.Since that (first) day I was the Chief Executive Officer of the company, up to today as I stand there.”The company’s directors also knew as much – that he was the CEO – Kandara said.Ralph Blaauw was the first person that he approached to become involved in the company, and it was Blaauw who suggested that the SPYL and Kapia should also be brought into the company, Kandara related.He added that Blaauw further suggested that Shiweda should be another of the directors.SSC CONNECTIONS Kapia and Blaauw were Avid’s links to the SSC, Kandara continued.Kandara himself did not feature on Avid documentation that went to the SSC or in the company’s dealings with the SSC, Kandara confirmed.The reason for that, he explained, was because he had been mentioned during the proceedings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the SSC some two and a half years ago, and was still waiting for the findings of that inquiry to be made known and implemented, before he would have stepped into the open with respect to his role in Avid.In the meantime, he did not hold any of the shares in the company in his own name either, but through two sisters of his who were reflected as shareholders, he was in effect the major shareholder in the company, Kandara explained.Share certificates had been issued to Avid’s shareholders, but the Chairperson of the company’s board of directors, Kandara’s cousin Inez /Gâses, had to see to it that the shareholders would sign these, he also stated.ENTER PODEWILTZ Another of the directors of Avid that Kandara approached to join the company’s board was Otniel Podewiltz, who was the legal counsel who led the evidence presented to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the SSC’s affairs in late 2002 and early 2003, the court also heard.Podewiltz is furthermore the Chairperson of a task force that is supposed to implement the Presidential Commission’s recommendations – including recommendations that may relate to a finding that Kandara previously solicited investments from the SSC while he was not a registered investment broker, the court also heard earlier.Kandara told the Acting Judge that he approached Podewiltz because he thought Podewiltz had the kind of experience with which he could assist Kandara in building Avid up as a company.A trust company connected to the Secretary of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), Deputy Works, Transport and Communication Minister Paulus Kapia, also held 10 per cent of the shareholding in Avid, Kandara stated. He told the court that the shareholding of both the SPYL and Kapia’s Community Care Trust had been arranged through the middleman efforts of Blaauw.Kapia was a director of Avid until March 20, when he resigned from the company’s board.Another shareholder of Avid that Kandara identified was retired Namibia Defence Force Brigadier Mathias Shiweda, who he said held eight per cent of the shareholding in the company.Both Shiweda and Blaauw were supposed to be directors of Avid as well, but asked not to be reflected on paper as part of the company, Kandara told the court.Blaauw is a figure who has never been reflected on official documentation as having had a formal position in Avid.He has, however, featured more prominently in evidence about the company’s activities than has his wife, Sharon Blaauw, who has been a director of Avid since mid-April last year.PRIME MOVER The reason for Blaauw’s repeated appearance in evidence so far heard during the inquiry became apparent soon after Kandara started to give evidence yesterday: according to him, Blaauw had been asked to join the company’s board, but he suggested that his wife should be made a director instead.Blaauw then in any event went on to play an active role in the company’s affairs, while his wife passively disappeared into the background, Kandara claimed.Why Blaauw would not openly become a director he did not know, he replied when Acting Judge Heathcote asked a question on that score.Avid Investment Corporation had been his brainchild, Kandara told the court: “I was the person who was behind the idea and everything.Since that (first) day I was the Chief Executive Officer of the company, up to today as I stand there.”The company’s directors also knew as much – that he was the CEO – Kandara said.Ralph Blaauw was the first person that he approached to become involved in the company, and it was Blaauw who suggested that the SPYL and Kapia should also be brought into the company, Kandara related.He added that Blaauw further suggested that Shiweda should be another of the directors.SSC CONNECTIONS Kapia and Blaauw were Avid’s links to the SSC, Kandara continued.Kandara himself did not feature on Avid documentation that went to the SSC or in the company’s dealings with the SSC, Kandara confirmed.The reason for that, he explained, was because he had been mentioned during the proceedings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the SSC some two and a half years ago, and was still waiting for the findings of that inquiry to be made known and implemented, before he would have stepped into the open with respect to his role in Avid.In the meantime, he did not hold any of the shares in the company in his own name either, but through two sisters of his who were reflected as shareholders, he was in effect the major shareholder in the company, Kandara explained.Share certificates had been issued to Avid’s shareholders, but the Chairperson of the company’s board of directors, Kandara’s cousin Inez /Gâses, had to see to it that the shareholders would sign these, he also stated.ENTER PODEWILTZ Another of the directors of Avid that Kandara approached to join the company’s board was Otniel Podewiltz, who was the legal counsel who led the evidence presented to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the SSC’s affairs in late 2002 and early 2003, the court also heard.Podewiltz is furthermore the Chairperson of a task force that is supposed to implement the Presidential Commission’s recommendations – including recommendations that may relate to a finding that Kandara previously solicited investments from the SSC while he was not a registered investment broker, the court also heard earlier.Kandara told the Acting Judge that he approached Podewiltz because he thought Podewiltz had the kind of experience with which he could assist Kandara in building Avid up as a company.