Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesperson Josefina Nghituwamata has confirmed that Cornelius ‘Cedric’ Willemse was discharged from hospital on Saturday after being admitted for an undisclosed health condition on Friday.
“Yes, he was [admitted], but he has been released from the hospital and returned to the cells,” Nghituwamata told The Namibian on Saturday.
Willemse is one of nine accused arrested this week in connection with alleged corruption and fraud involving some N$480 million at the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor).
Willemse and seven co-accused made their first appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
The court appearance ended with magistrate Olga Muharukua postponing the matter to Monday next week for a bail hearing.
The accused are being held in custody in the meantime.
The accused are facing sixty-eight charges in total that are listed on the charge sheet on record at the court.
Willemse is facing 11 counts.
The ACC said in a statement on Friday, after the first court appearance of a ninth individual charged in the matter, that the charges stem from allegations that the company Enercon Namibia and the close corporation Erongo Petroleum, which are both also charged, significantly exceeded their credit limits with the state-owned Namcor when they acquired fuel products valued at N$274.4 million from Namcor between August 2022 and May 2023.
It is also alleged that Namcor acquired service station assets at nine Namibian Defence Force bases from Enercon Namibia for N$53.2 million in July 2022 unlawfilly and without the approval of Namcor’s board of directors, the ACC stated.
The service station assets were not transferred to Namcor, resulting in a loss of N$53.2 million to the company, because that deal was allegedly done while the service stations were seemingly encumbered under a 15-year agreement between Enercon Namibia and the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, the ACC said as well.
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