NDC still to decide on action against ODC

THE Namibia Development Corporation (NDC) will only decide next month whether to pursue legal action against sister company the Offshore Development Corporation (ODC) for more than N$55 million owed to it.

The NDC’s money forms more than half of N$100 million the ODC invested with Great Triangle Investments from 2003, and which to date it has been unable to get back. NDC Board Chairman John Nekwaya told The Namibian yesterday that the board would first wait to conclude disciplinary hearings against the CEO, Abdool Sattar Aboobakar, and Finance Manager Addis Faul before focusing their attention on getting back the money.Originally, the disciplinary process was to be concluded last month but hearings have only been set for next month.Aboobakar and Faul will face gross negligence charges for signing off transfers to the ODC for the money to be invested without board approval and in contravention of the company’s investment policy.Aboobakar left for Mauritius, his native country, in December but is expected to return this week.He and Faul remain on suspension pending the outcome of the hearings.From the NDC’s investigations into the investment, it did not appear that Aboobakar or Faul benefited financially from the investment arrangement with the ODC.”After the disciplinary is when we are likely to have the first board meeting (for the year), and decide on the next course of action,” said Nekwaya.In total, the NDC made 17 transfers to the ODC between June 20 2003 and January 26 2004 at an interest rate of 19 per cent.All the investments were supposed to mature on May 31 2004.Aboobakar and Faul were not the only ones who signed off on the investment transfers – other staff who did so are no longer employed at the NDC.The biggest chunk of money the NDC invested with the ODC was N$16,5 million – in January two years ago.Around N$15,7 million of the N$55,3 million transferred to the ODC for investment was actual NDC funds – the rest was funds held in trust for the Ministry of Trade and Industry for the development of industrial parks and small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) projects.In November, the NDC served the ODC with a letter of demand for the N$55 million, but held off on taking the matter further when the ODC failed to respond to the demand.The ODC requested the NDC to wait until the conclusion of its processes to return the money before demanding their own back.Next week, the ODC is expected to defend attempts to liquidate it at the hands of information technology company Silnam, for N$7 million it said it gave the ODC to invest with Great Triangle Investments.Nekwaya said the board would be guided by their lawyers on how to proceed in getting the money returned, in the wake of the NDC having to wind down its operations.Cabinet decided to shut down the NDC more than a year ago with the end of 2005 originally slated as the date of the closure.But the transfer of its agronomic projects and the future of its employees, Nekwaya said, still required consideration and attention.The NDC was set up to promote economic growth and development.Nekwaya said the board was not yet satisfied that Government ministries would have the capacity to manage some of the projects if they were transferred to them.He said the board also wanted to avoid laying off too many people working on the projects, should they be taken over by Government ministries.Although several employees have already resigned in the run-up to closure, Nekwaya said there were still a number of personnel issues such as retrenchment packages, compensation and transfers to consider before the company could close down.He said the board was now looking at winding down operations by June.NDC Board Chairman John Nekwaya told The Namibian yesterday that the board would first wait to conclude disciplinary hearings against the CEO, Abdool Sattar Aboobakar, and Finance Manager Addis Faul before focusing their attention on getting back the money.Originally, the disciplinary process was to be concluded last month but hearings have only been set for next month.Aboobakar and Faul will face gross negligence charges for signing off transfers to the ODC for the money to be invested without board approval and in contravention of the company’s investment policy.Aboobakar left for Mauritius, his native country, in December but is expected to return this week.He and Faul remain on suspension pending the outcome of the hearings.From the NDC’s investigations into the investment, it did not appear that Aboobakar or Faul benefited financially from the investment arrangement with the ODC.”After the disciplinary is when we are likely to have the first board meeting (for the year), and decide on the next course of action,” said Nekwaya.In total, the NDC made 17 transfers to the ODC between June 20 2003 and January 26 2004 at an interest rate of 19 per cent.All the investments were supposed to mature on May 31 2004.Aboobakar and Faul were not the only ones who signed off on the investment transfers – other staff who did so are no longer employed at the NDC.The biggest chunk of money the NDC invested with the ODC was N$16,5 million – in January two years ago.Around N$15,7 million of the N$55,3 million transferred to the ODC for investment was actual NDC funds – the rest was funds held in trust for the Ministry of Trade and Industry for the development of industrial parks and small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) projects.In November, the NDC served the ODC with a letter of demand for the N$55 million, but held off on taking the matter further when the ODC failed to respond to the demand.The ODC requested the NDC to wait until the conclusion of its processes to return the money before demanding their own back.Next week, the ODC is expected to defend attempts to liquidate it at the hands of information technology company Silnam, for N$7 million it said it gave the ODC to invest with Great Triangle Investments.Nekwaya said the board would be guided by their lawyers on how to proceed in getting the money returned, in the wake of the NDC having to wind down its operations.Cabinet decided to shut down the NDC more than a year ago with the end of 2005 originally slated as the date of the closure.But the transfer of its agronomic projects and the future of its employees, Nekwaya said, still required consideration and attention.The NDC was set up to promote economic growth and development.Nekwaya said the board was not yet satisfied that Government ministries would have the capacity to manage some of the projects if they were transferred to them.He said the board also wanted to avoid laying off too many people working on the projects, should they be taken over by Government ministries.Although several employees have already resigned in the run-up to closure, Nekwaya said there were still a number of personnel issues such as retrenchment packages, compensation and transfers to consider before the company could close down.He said the board was now looking at winding down operations by June.