Namcor accused tells court: ‘I’m not a thief’

One of the accused in the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) fraud and corruption case, Panduleni Hamukwaya, says payments of N$1.45 million made to his close corporation in 2022 were part of an investment in a wildlife farming project.

“I’m not a thief,” Hamukwaya (51) told magistrate Josane Klazen during a bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura yesterday.

He is a victim of circumstances that have landed him in jail for nearly seven months, since his arrest in July last year, Hamukwaya said.

“There’s no way I could have stolen, and I don’t steal,” he said when asked by defence lawyer Slysken Makando for his response to a charge of theft that he is facing.

Hamukwaya confirmed that payments totaling N$1.45 million were made to an account of the close corporation Panduleni Farming, of which he was the sole member, by the close corporation Quality Meat Supplies during 2022.

The payments were made after Victor Malima, who is wanted in Namibia in connection with alleged fraud and corruption at Namcor, agreed to invest N$1.8 million in a wildlife farming project, Hamukwaya said.

He planned to set up a wildlife farming venture at a resettlement farm that he has in the Otjozondjupa region, Hamukwaya also testified.

He told the magistrate that Malima approached him in October 2019 and told him he wanted to buy meat in large quantities.

According to Hamukwaya, he told Malima he could not supply meat in large quantities, but that he had a project at his farm in which Malima could become an investor.

After Malima visited his farm in November 2019, he agreed to invest N$1.8 million in the project, Hamukwaya said.

It took until May 2022, though, before Malima transferred a first amount of N$100 000 to an account of Panduleni Farming, Hamukwaya said.

That payment was followed by further payments of N$500 000, N$150 000, N$100 000, N$100 000 and N$500 000, he said.

Hamukwaya is charged with two counts in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act, a count of money laundering under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and a charge of theft.

The state is alleging that between 27 May 2022 and 17 December 2022 Hamukwaya received N$1.55 million from Quality Meat Supplies CC through Panduleni Farming CC.

It is also alleged that this money was obtained as gratification from an asset purchase agreement between Namcor and the fuel company Enercon Namibian and that Hamukwaya held the N$1.55 million for his own benefit or the benefit of his wife, Jennifer Hamukwaya, who was employed by Namcor in a managerial position and also is an accused in the case in which Hamukwaya is charged.

The state is claiming that the accused in the Namcor fraud and corruption case were involved in fraud, corruption and other offences allegedly committed when Enercon Namibia sold filling station assets at Namibian Defence Force bases to a Namcor subsidiary, Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution, for N$53.2 million in July 2022.

The state is also alleging that Namcor was defrauded when Enercon and another fuel firm, the close corporation Erongo Petroleum, bought fuel products from Namcor, exceeded their credit limits with the company and failed to pay for the products they had bought.

Hamukwaya told the magistrate in his testimony that he did not ask Malima where his money came from. If he had known that the money was tainted or in dispute he would have refused it, he added.

“I did not know there were any unlawful activities. It was just business between myself and an investor,” he said.

After receiving the payments from Quality Meat Supplies, he paid N$643 000 towards a mortgage bond that he had and paid about N$107 000 to the Agricultural Bank of Namibia, where he had a loan, Hamukwaya said.

The bail hearing is continuing.

The state, represented by public prosecutor Menencia Hinda, is opposing Hamukwaya’s application to be granted bail.

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