Nghinamwaami defends N$150 000 ‘fixing fee’

FORMER City of Windhoek executive Hafeni Nghinamwaami last week denied that there was anything wrong or unusual with him receiving a N$150 000 “project facilitation fee” for arranging a deal between construction giant Murray & Roberts and the Roads Contractor Company (RCC) in 2004.

He also admitted to pursuing his “own business” interests while employed as a Strategic Executive at N$600 000 a year in putting together the deal that saw Murray & Roberts land the N$6.1 million contract to construct the RCC’s new Windhoek headquarters. The RCC spent about N$10 million on the project eventually, with the balance going to other sub-contractors paid directly (and in some cases, not yet fully) by the RCC itself in terms of the joint venture Nghinamwaami had arranged.The N$150 000 payment came to light in High Court documents filed a few weeks ago by suspended RCC CEO Kelly Nghixulifwa in an interdict to halt an internal RCC disciplinary hearing against him on 12 charges of dishonesty, gross negligence and recklessness.Nghixulifwa, through his lawyers G.F.Koepplinger and Associates, denied all guilt, but so far has showed little appetite to answer to charges formulated after an investigation by Ernst & Young’s forensic auditing team, hired by the RCC Board for this purpose.According to the RCC charge sheet, the N$150 000 was paid as a “project facilitation fee” over to Nghinamwaami’s Cradle Investments on December 8 2004.The RCC later reimbursed Murray & Roberts for the money, but no money was due to Cradle from either the RCC or Murray & Roberts in the first instance, according to the RCC charges.In a telephonic interview Nghinamwaani acknowledged he had received the N$150 000 from the construction company, a mere week after leaving the employment of the City of Windhoek on November 30 2004.”Of course, I facilitated negotiations between the RCC and Murray and Roberts – that was what I was paid for,” an irate Nghinamwaami said while denying all possible impropriety in the payment.He refused to discuss details, and demanded to know why interest was expressed in the subject at all.Asked what precisely he had done to earn N$150 000 in a matter of a week, an indignant Nghinamwaami said: “It does not mean when I was at the City of Windhoek I was not doing my own business.””I had negotiated for a month on this deal, to bring the parties together,” he added.The fact that Murray & Roberts would have been dealing directly with the RCC and would arguably have no need for his “facilitation” was immaterial to the deal, he insisted.Senior managers at Murray & Roberts confirmed that Nghinamwaami had invited them to a lunch with RCC CEO, Kelly Nghixulifwa in late 2004 at the Fuerstenhof Hotel, where the subject of a joint venture to build the new headquarters was first broached.They also confirmed Nghinamwaami wanted a N$170 000 “finder’s fee” for his efforts in arranging a joint venture.Murray & Roberts refused to pay this, but relented later when Nghixulifwa offered to talk Nghinamwaami into accepting N$150 000 instead, for which the RCC would reimburse Murray & Roberts.There was still no agreement in place when Nghixulifwa sent the M&R MD Jan Louw an SMS early December, instructing him to pay out the N$150 000 to Nghinamwaami.A joint-venture agreement was later put in place, but the way in which the contract was handled raised several questions.For example, Otis Elevators was first appointed to install the lifts – but then was replaced by Brigadier Matthias Shiweda’s Namibia Lift Technology (Pty) at a higher cost, and at great delay to the entire contract.”The whole thing did not smell right from the start,” M&R Project Manager Riaan Coetzee said, adding that “This is not the kind of joint venture we will ever get involved in – not in a million years – not with those guys again.”At the time of his resignation from the City of Windhoek, Nghinamwaami was reported as saying that he had achieved his professional objectives at the Municipality and was planning to do consulting work while “studying an undisclosed offer.”An investigation into Cradle Investments also brought to light that the company has been operating without an auditor for the past few months after PriceWaterhouseCoopers had resigned in June this year but no new auditor was appointed.The Companies Act (Act 69 of 1973) states that it is an offence for any company to be without an auditor for a period of more than 30 days.Nghinamwaami is also a 30 per cent shareholder in /Ae//Gams Engineering (Pty), which is developing a N$54 million service station and shopping centre, the B-1 City, opposite the Katutura State Hospital.Work at the project, financed by the RCC, was halted several weeks ago when the charges against Nghixulifwa became public and their funds suddenly dried up.Nghinamwaami refused to comment on all these issues.Recently, he issued a letter of demand via his lawyers, Ueitele & Hans Legal Practitioners, for a front-page apology – failing which he intended instituting damage claims of N$500 000 against this newspaper and this reporter.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587 “Of course, I facilitated negotiations between the RCC and Murray and Roberts – that was what I was paid for” – NghinamwaamiThe RCC spent about N$10 million on the project eventually, with the balance going to other sub-contractors paid directly (and in some cases, not yet fully) by the RCC itself in terms of the joint venture Nghinamwaami had arranged.The N$150 000 payment came to light in High Court documents filed a few weeks ago by suspended RCC CEO Kelly Nghixulifwa in an interdict to halt an internal RCC disciplinary hearing against him on 12 charges of dishonesty, gross negligence and recklessness.Nghixulifwa, through his lawyers G.F.Koepplinger and Associates, denied all guilt, but so far has showed little appetite to answer to charges formulated after an investigation by Ernst & Young’s forensic auditing team, hired by the RCC Board for this purpose.According to the RCC charge sheet, the N$150 000 was paid as a “project facilitation fee” over to Nghinamwaami’s Cradle Investments on December 8 2004.The RCC later reimbursed Murray & Roberts for the money, but no money was due to Cradle from either the RCC or Murray & Roberts in the first instance, according to the RCC charges.In a telephonic interview Nghinamwaani acknowledged he had received the N$150 000 from the construction company, a mere week after leaving the employment of the City of Windhoek on November 30 2004.”Of course, I facilitated negotiations between the RCC and Murray and Roberts – that was what I was paid for,” an irate Nghinamwaami said while denying all possible impropriety in the payment.He refused to discuss details, and demanded to know why interest was expressed in the subject at all.Asked what precisely he had done to earn N$150 000 in a matter of a week, an indignant Nghinamwaami said: “It does not mean when I was at the City of Windhoek I was not doing my own business.””I had negotiated for a month on this deal, to bring the parties together,” he added.The fact that Murray & Roberts would have been dealing directly with the RCC and would arguably have no need for his “facilitation” was immaterial to the deal, he insisted. Senior managers at Murray & Roberts confirmed that Nghinamwaami had invited them to a lunch with RCC CEO, Kelly Nghixulifwa in late 2004 at the Fuerstenhof Hotel, where the subject of a joint venture to build the new headquarters was first broached.They also confirmed Nghinamwaami wanted a N$170 000 “finder’s fee” for his efforts in arranging a joint venture.Murray & Roberts refused to pay this, but relented later when Nghixulifwa offered to talk Nghinamwaami into accepting N$150 000 instead, for which the RCC would reimburse Murray & Roberts.There was still no agreement in place when Nghixulifwa sent the M&R MD Jan Louw an SMS early December, instructing him to pay out the N$150 000 to Nghinamwaami.A joint-venture agreement was later put in place, but the way in which the contract was handled raised several questions.For example, Otis Elevators was first app
ointed to install the lifts – but then was replaced by Brigadier Matthias Shiweda’s Namibia Lift Technology (Pty) at a higher cost, and at great delay to the entire contract.”The whole thing did not smell right from the start,” M&R Project Manager Riaan Coetzee said, adding that “This is not the kind of joint venture we will ever get involved in – not in a million years – not with those guys again.”At the time of his resignation from the City of Windhoek, Nghinamwaami was reported as saying that he had achieved his professional objectives at the Municipality and was planning to do consulting work while “studying an undisclosed offer.”An investigation into Cradle Investments also brought to light that the company has been operating without an auditor for the past few months after PriceWaterhouseCoopers had resigned in June this year but no new auditor was appointed.The Companies Act (Act 69 of 1973) states that it is an offence for any company to be without an auditor for a period of more than 30 days.Nghinamwaami is also a 30 per cent shareholder in /Ae//Gams Engineering (Pty), which is developing a N$54 million service station and shopping centre, the B-1 City, opposite the Katutura State Hospital.Work at the project, financed by the RCC, was halted several weeks ago when the charges against Nghixulifwa became public and their funds suddenly dried up.Nghinamwaami refused to comment on all these issues.Recently, he issued a letter of demand via his lawyers, Ueitele & Hans Legal Practitioners, for a front-page apology – failing which he intended instituting damage claims of N$500 000 against this newspaper and this reporter.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587 “Of course, I facilitated negotiations between the RCC and Murray and Roberts – that was what I was paid for” – Nghinamwaami