Mystery surrounding ODC millions grows

THE Botswanan outfit in which the Offshore Development Company invested just short of N$100 million, appears to no longer be operational in that country.

A dead director, a telephone number that doesn’t exist, an untraceable contact person, no business located at the outfit’s official address and talk of investments being nearly a year overdue, emerged during an attempt by The Namibian to track down Great Triangle Investments Pty Ltd. The search for information produced only a paper trail and a sole living director, a certain PA Fourie, untraceable in South Africa.A second director, believed to have lived in Botswana, died about two years ago, according to company secretary for Great Triangle Investments, PR Executive and Business Services based in Gaborone.There appears to be no South African business branch to the company either, as earlier reported.Yesterday, ODC’s lawyer Andrew Theunissen who has been enlisted to hunt down the millions invested, told The Namibian that the money had not been invested in one lump sum.He said the ODC made several payments between 2003-04 over a two-year period, which were due for repayment at different times.None of these agreements had been honoured, he said, but could not reveal how long the earliest of the investments had been overdue.It is believed to be at least a year.The Namibian could establish yesterday that Great Triangle Investments was in fact registered with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana – in 1997.However the physical address for the company in Botswana, as provided by Theunissen to the media, yielded little in the way of finding anybody connected to the company.The Botswana telephone company said it had no listing for Great Triangle Investments.A contact number provided by Theunissen for the alleged head of the company, Fourie, no longer exists according to a voice-recorded message.The number appears to be for an address in the East London area in the Eastern Cape.Theunissen however said he had spoken to Fourie and had been given “several excuses” for why the money had not been repaid to date.He would not say what these excuses were.Despite these hiccups, Theunissen said he remained confident that the money would be returned “as soon as possible”.”I’ve been instructed by the ODC to assist in the recovery of the investment [of around N$99 million]”, he said.When The Namibian contacted Great Triangle Investments’ Company Secretary PR Executive and Business Services in Botswana, it appeared that the company had not had contact with them for at least two years either.Managing Director Immanuel James said he was “surprised” to learn from someone who made enquiries about the company about two months ago that one of the directors had died.The physical address for Great Triangle Investments in Broadhurst, Gaborone appears to have been that of the deceased director.James said there was no South African address on the business file.He noted that as company secretary he was expected to keep Government departments such as Trade and Industry and Finance, updated on information related to Great Triangle Investments.James said forms were sent to all companies once a year to update their information and if these were not returned, it was presumed the information had remained unchanged.Fourie was also listed as Great Triangle Investments’ only contact person.Although he could not say exactly when Great Triangle Investments had last made contact with PR Executive and Business Services, James said once five years had lapsed without contact, his company would stop acting as company secretary.”As far as we are concerned we are still Great Triangle Investments’ company secretary,” he said.James added that it was not uncommon for companies to relocate their business operations without informing the company secretary of the changes.He could not be specific about the kind of business Great Triangle Investments’ was involved in but seemed to recall that they had “something to do with cash loans”.”Surely the Namibian company should know who they are dealing with,” said James in response to The Namibian’s queries.Yesterday the ODC continued to refer any further inquiries related to the deal to Theunissen.The Namibian believes that ODC officials this week also approached Namfisa – Namibia’s Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority – in an attempt to salvage their money.Namfisa’s General Manager for Investment Institutions Boni Paulino however said upon enquiry from The Namibian that while it only supervised local companies, it could assist in doing background checks and advising on doing business with foreign companies.But he said it did not help that those wronged only approached Namfisa after the deal had been clinched or gone sour.On Monday, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Andrew Ndishishi said Government, as the ODC’s main shareholder, had been assured by ODC officials that the money “was not lost”.The search for information produced only a paper trail and a sole living director, a certain PA Fourie, untraceable in South Africa.A second director, believed to have lived in Botswana, died about two years ago, according to company secretary for Great Triangle Investments, PR Executive and Business Services based in Gaborone.There appears to be no South African business branch to the company either, as earlier reported.Yesterday, ODC’s lawyer Andrew Theunissen who has been enlisted to hunt down the millions invested, told The Namibian that the money had not been invested in one lump sum.He said the ODC made several payments between 2003-04 over a two-year period, which were due for repayment at different times.None of these agreements had been honoured, he said, but could not reveal how long the earliest of the investments had been overdue.It is believed to be at least a year.The Namibian could establish yesterday that Great Triangle Investments was in fact registered with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana – in 1997.However the physical address for the company in Botswana, as provided by Theunissen to the media, yielded little in the way of finding anybody connected to the company.The Botswana telephone company said it had no listing for Great Triangle Investments.A contact number provided by Theunissen for the alleged head of the company, Fourie, no longer exists according to a voice-recorded message.The number appears to be for an address in the East London area in the Eastern Cape.Theunissen however said he had spoken to Fourie and had been given “several excuses” for why the money had not been repaid to date.He would not say what these excuses were.Despite these hiccups, Theunissen said he remained confident that the money would be returned “as soon as possible”.”I’ve been instructed by the ODC to assist in the recovery of the investment [of around N$99 million]”, he said.When The Namibian contacted Great Triangle Investments’ Company Secretary PR Executive and Business Services in Botswana, it appeared that the company had not had contact with them for at least two years either.Managing Director Immanuel James said he was “surprised” to learn from someone who made enquiries about the company about two months ago that one of the directors had died.The physical address for Great Triangle Investments in Broadhurst, Gaborone appears to have been that of the deceased director.James said there was no South African address on the business file.He noted that as company secretary he was expected to keep Government departments such as Trade and Industry and Finance, updated on information related to Great Triangle Investments. James said forms were sent to all companies once a year to update their information and if these were not returned, it was presumed the information had remained unchanged.Fourie was also listed as Great Triangle Investments’ only contact person.Although he could not say exactly when Great Triangle Investments had last made contact with PR Executive and Business Services, James said once five years had lapsed without contact, his company would stop acting as company secretary.”As far as we are concerned we are still
Great Triangle Investments’ company secretary,” he said.James added that it was not uncommon for companies to relocate their business operations without informing the company secretary of the changes.He could not be specific about the kind of business Great Triangle Investments’ was involved in but seemed to recall that they had “something to do with cash loans”.”Surely the Namibian company should know who they are dealing with,” said James in response to The Namibian’s queries.Yesterday the ODC continued to refer any further inquiries related to the deal to Theunissen.The Namibian believes that ODC officials this week also approached Namfisa – Namibia’s Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority – in an attempt to salvage their money.Namfisa’s General Manager for Investment Institutions Boni Paulino however said upon enquiry from The Namibian that while it only supervised local companies, it could assist in doing background checks and advising on doing business with foreign companies.But he said it did not help that those wronged only approached Namfisa after the deal had been clinched or gone sour.On Monday, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Andrew Ndishishi said Government, as the ODC’s main shareholder, had been assured by ODC officials that the money “was not lost”.