An alleged illegal coal mining operation in South Africa has had repercussions for an Aranos area farm owner, with N$49.4 million in Namibian bank accounts of the farm owner and his wife now in effect frozen in terms of a Prevention of Organised Crime Act property preservation order.
An interim property preservation order in respect of eight Namibian bank accounts that was issued by a judge of the Windhoek High Court at the end of December 2024 has now been confirmed, in a judgement delivered on Monday.
In terms of the property preservation order, funds in eight bank accounts in the names of married couple Jacobus Jordaan and Elza Jordaan, the company Welgevonde Farming and a trust, Namka Trust, may not be removed from the accounts or dealt with in any manner.
The preserved funds in the accounts amount to N$49.4 million, judge Lotta Ambunda noted in the judgement delivered on Monday.
The Jordaans live at farm Welgevonde in the Aranos area of the Hardap region.
Prosecutor general Martha Imalwa applied for the provisional property preservation order in December 2024, after the Namibian Police received information from the South African Police Service about alleged illegal coal mining at a farm in the area of Carolina in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province.
The farm, Witkranz, where coal was alleged to have been mined illegally from November 2021 to September 2023, belonged to a close corporation, Pant Beleggings, of which the Jordaans were the only members, Imalwa informed the court when she applied for a property preservation order.
The court was also informed that it is alleged that about 270 000 tonnes of coal, valued at about N$264 million, were illegally mined at farm Witkranz from November 2021 to September 2023.
According to information recorded in a forensic report compiled in South Africa, the Jordaans’ Namibian bank accounts were opened between June and December 2023.
ACCOUNT TRANSFERS
In the report, it is stated that large amounts of money were transferred from South African bank accounts of the couple to their Namibian accounts and thereafter channelled to other Namibian accounts in their names and those of Welgevonde Farming and Namka Trust, Ambunda recounted.
A total amount of N$66.7 million is alleged to have been deposited into the Namibian accounts, in which an amount of N$49.4 million has been preserved in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
Imalwa alleged that the money transferred to the accounts in Namibia was the proceeds of unlawful activities, namely money laundering or the theft of coal from the government of South Africa, where the state is the lawful owner of all mineral rights.
The Jordaans face criminal charges including counts of fraud, theft, money laundering and contravening South Africa’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in South Africa’s High Court in Mpumalanga, on which they have been released on bail, Ambunda noted as well.
A criminal case of money laundering was also registered in Namibia in December 2024.
According to Jordaan, he, his wife and entities owned by them were not involved in illegal coal mining at farm Witkranz, and the funds paid into his and his wife’s Namibian bank accounts originated from a shares sale transaction in South Africa.
He also informed the court that assets belonging to him and his wife and valued at about N$300 million have been placed under a property restraint order in terms of South Africa’s Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and argued that the prosecutor general could not target additional assets in Namibia.
Ambunda found there was no evidence that the coal mining activities at farm Witkranz were authorised. She said it was reasonable to infer that illegal coal mining took place on portions of the farm and that proceeds obtained from such mining would be proceeds of unlawful activities.
Ambunda also found there was no evidence that all of the money paid into the couple’s Namibian bank accounts, or a majority of the funds, came from a shares sale transaction.
Jordaan’s version about the source of his and his wife’s income and the source of the funds in their Namibian accounts “is not convincing”, Ambunda remarked.
She added that “a reasonable inference can be made that the funds in the Namibian accounts are proceeds of illegal coal mining”.
The bank accounts that the couple opened in Namibia from June 2023 onwards made it possible for the proceeds of unlawful activities in South Africa to be concealed, Ambunda said.
She also said the facts in the matter indicated that the couple “committed the offence of money laundering”.
State advocate Mariette Boonzaier, assisted by Annerie Keulder, represented the prosecutor general in the matter.
The Jordaans were represented by senior counsel Raymond Heathcote, assisted by Japie Jacobs.
