NDF fraudster given record jail sentence

FORMER Defence Ministry official Emmanuel Mununga is set to pay a heavy price – not just with his freedom but also with his remaining earthly belongings – for the multi-million-dollar fraud he admitted committing at the Ministry of Defence between early 1996 and late 2000.

Acting Judge Christie Liebenberg sentenced Mununga (47) to 20 years’ imprisonment yesterday. The sentence that was handed down in the High Court in Windhoek is the longest jail term ever meted out by a Namibian court to someone convicted of fraud.Mununga’s case was in a class of its own before the sentencing already, with both the number of charges and the amount of money involved among the highest yet seen in any fraud case in Namibia.It was also one of the country’s longest-delayed cases since Independence.Mununga’s sentencing yesterday should serve as a strong warning to other public officials and people in positions of trust, Acting Judge Liebenberg indicated.Law-abiding Namibians were sick and tired of the way that some Government officials dishonestly enriched themselves through the positions that they occupied in the public service, and if they and others who abused their positions of trust to dishonestly pursue their own monetary gains were convicted, they should expect to receive robust sentences from the country’s courts, the Acting Judge warned.In Mununga’s case, society’s outrage over crimes of dishonesty committed by public officials deserved considerable weight, he stated.Mununga pleaded guilty to 186 counts of fraud on September 20.He admitted that he used his position in the Ministry of Defence, where he was employed as a senior personnel officer, for close to five years to commit fraud on almost 200 occasions.In the process, he defrauded Sanlam Namibia, which administered a life insurance scheme for Namibia Defence Force and Defence Ministry personnel, of N$5,425 million, Mununga admitted.He admitted that while employed in the Ministry, he submitted false claims for the payment of death benefits that were supposedly due to be paid to relatives of Namibia Defence Force members who had died.This happened between January 23 1996 and November 27 2000.The insurance company made out cheques to supposed beneficiaries whose names Mununga had provided to it.Mununga informed the court in his plea that he then sent a messenger from his office to collect the cheques, and that he then deposited the cheques into the bank accounts of the alleged beneficiaries.After that, he asked the people whose names and bank accounts he had used to pay over the money to himself.Mununga claimed that he would tell these people that the deposits into their accounts had been part of his earnings from his own business transactions.If any of the account holders started asking questions about the origin of the money, he would stop using their accounts and would move on to using other accounts, Mununga stated in his plea explanation.The people whose accounts he used were not only shamefully misled, but they also ended up being charged with Mununga, Acting Judge Liebenberg noted.Twenty-two co-accused appeared with Mununga before the Acting Judge on the starting date of his trial.After Mununga admitted guilt to 186 counts of fraud and informed the court that he acted alone in carrying out the crimes, the charges against the other 22 were withdrawn.That, however, was some five years and nine months after most of them had been arrested and charged with Mununga.One could hardly imagine the anxiety that Mununga’s former co-accused had to endure in the almost six years before the case finally became ready for trial, Acting Judge Liebenberg remarked.He said he regarded this as an aggravating element counting against Mununga.He added that he also considered it to be aggravating that the fraud that Mununga committed was planned and premeditated, and was carried out over a long period in which Mununga had ample time to reflect and come to his senses.It could be said that Mununga had offended in two ways – by committing the crimes and by breaching the trust that had been placed in him in his position in the Ministry, Acting Judge Liebenberg also noted.Mununga’s defence counsel, Unanisa Hengari, informed the court last week that Mununga would be able to repay only about N$500 000 of the N$5,425 million that he admitted taking from Sanlam through the fraud.He had spent the money on paying for his children’s education, buying cattle and on day-to-day living expenses, and had also given part of it away to friends and relatives, the lawyer told the court.The money was clearly not used for pressing needs, but was spent in a wasteful manner, Acting Judge Liebenberg commented.”You enriched yourself, and were motivated by greed, not need,” he told Mununga.He added that he did not have doubt that Mununga’s misdeeds have brought about a lot of unhappiness and distress to him and his family.That, however, was one of the consequences that people who committed such offences would have to endure, he continued.The prospects appear bleak that Sanlam would be able to recover any substantial portion of the losses it had suffered from Mununga, Acting Judge Liebenberg remarked during the sentencing.At the end of the sentencing, he however still gave the company a powerful tool that it would be able to use if it wants to try to get its money back.He sentenced Mununga to 20 years’ imprisonment, and added an order awarding compensation to Sanlam in the amount of N$5,425 million.In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, this compensation order has the same effect as a civil judgement granted against Mununga in that amount, meaning that Sanlam would now be entitled to have Mununga’s assets seized and sold off in an effort to recover the stolen millions.State advocate Orben Sibeya conducted the prosecution.The sentence that was handed down in the High Court in Windhoek is the longest jail term ever meted out by a Namibian court to someone convicted of fraud.Mununga’s case was in a class of its own before the sentencing already, with both the number of charges and the amount of money involved among the highest yet seen in any fraud case in Namibia.It was also one of the country’s longest-delayed cases since Independence.Mununga’s sentencing yesterday should serve as a strong warning to other public officials and people in positions of trust, Acting Judge Liebenberg indicated.Law-abiding Namibians were sick and tired of the way that some Government officials dishonestly enriched themselves through the positions that they occupied in the public service, and if they and others who abused their positions of trust to dishonestly pursue their own monetary gains were convicted, they should expect to receive robust sentences from the country’s courts, the Acting Judge warned.In Mununga’s case, society’s outrage over crimes of dishonesty committed by public officials deserved considerable weight, he stated.Mununga pleaded guilty to 186 counts of fraud on September 20. He admitted that he used his position in the Ministry of Defence, where he was employed as a senior personnel officer, for close to five years to commit fraud on almost 200 occasions.In the process, he defrauded Sanlam Namibia, which administered a life insurance scheme for Namibia Defence Force and Defence Ministry personnel, of N$5,425 million, Mununga admitted.He admitted that while employed in the Ministry, he submitted false claims for the payment of death benefits that were supposedly due to be paid to relatives of Namibia Defence Force members who had died.This happened between January 23 1996 and November 27 2000.The insurance company made out cheques to supposed beneficiaries whose names Mununga had provided to it.Mununga informed the court in his plea that he then sent a messenger from his office to collect the cheques, and that he then deposited the cheques into the bank accounts of the alleged beneficiaries.After that, he asked the people whose names and bank accounts he had used to pay over the money to himself.Mununga claimed that he would tell these people that the deposits into their accounts had been part of his earnings from his own business transactions.If any of the account holders started asking questions about the origin of the money, he would stop using their accounts and would move on to using other accounts, Mununga stated in his plea explanation.The people whose accounts he used were not only shamefully misled, but they also ended up being charged with Mununga, Acting Judge Liebenberg noted.Twenty-two co-accused appeared with Mununga before the Acting Judge on the starting date of his trial.After Mununga admitted guilt to 186 counts of fraud and informed the court that he acted alone in carrying out the crimes, the charges against the other 22 were withdrawn.That, however, was some five years and nine months after most of them had been arrested and charged with Mununga.One could hardly imagine the anxiety that Mununga’s former co-accused had to endure in the almost six years before the case finally became ready for trial, Acting Judge Liebenberg remarked.He said he regarded this as an aggravating element counting against Mununga.He added that he also considered it to be aggravating that the fraud that Mununga committed was planned and premeditated, and was carried out over a long period in which Mununga had ample time to reflect and come to his senses.It could be said that Mununga had offended in two ways – by committing the crimes and by breaching the trust that had been placed in him in his position in the Ministry, Acting Judge Liebenberg also noted.Mununga’s defence counsel, Unanisa Hengari, informed the court last week that Mununga would be able to repay only about N$500 000 of the N$5,425 million that he admitted taking from Sanlam through the fraud.He had spent the money on paying for his children’s education, buying cattle and on day-to-day living expenses, and had also given part of it away to friends and relatives, the lawyer told the court.The money was clearly not used for pressing needs, but was spent in a wasteful manner, Acting Judge Liebenberg commented.”You enriched yourself, and were motivated by greed, not need,” he told Mununga.He added that he did not have doubt that Mununga’s misdeeds have brought about a lot of unhappiness and distress to him and his family.That, however, was one of the consequences that people who committed such offences would have to endure, he continued.The prospects appear bleak that Sanlam would be able to recover any substantial portion of the losses it had suffered from Mununga, Acting Judge Liebenberg remarked during the sentencing.At the end of the sentencing, he however still gave the company a powerful tool that it would be able to use if it wants to try to get its money back.He sentenced Mununga to 20 years’ imprisonment, and added an order awarding compensation to Sanlam in the amount of N$5,425 million.In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, this compensation order has the same effect as a civil judgement granted against Mununga in that amount, meaning that Sanlam would now be entitled to have Mununga’s assets seized and sold off in an effort to recover the stolen millions.State advocate Orben Sibeya conducted the prosecution.