ODC clams up on N$100m

THE board of the Offshore Development Company (ODC) has imposed a blackout on information about its attempts to recover N$100 million from a shady investment.

ODC Board Chairperson Gerdus Burmeister told The Namibian that the board had decided it was “best” not to say anything about whether progress had been made. Instead, he chose to lash out at the media when contacted for information about an ODC management meeting, which was held at the end of last week.He accused the media of damaging investigations to track and return the money – which should have been repaid more than a year ago.’CAN’T BE FORCED’ Although Government funds the ODC and taxpayers’ money is involved, Burmeister said he could not be forced to divulge information on public demand, as the ODC was a private company.”At this point in time I have nothing to tell you.These things are doing damage to our investigation and it is best to say nothing,” said Burmeister.His remarks follow an initial promise at the end of July and another by the Ministry of Trade and Industry at the end of August to keep the public informed of progress.Over the last two weeks, Burmeister’s office has said that the ODC would issue a statement “soon” on the status of the investigation.But now Burmeister claims that the media were not patient enough.He felt that they were ‘writing at whim’ about what they felt people needed to know.The ODC Chairman has not spoken about the botched deal since The Namibian first reported two months ago that millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money were missing.Nonetheless, he said: “I expected a certain amount of trust.We have not been treated well and the way things have been reported has done harm to the whole thing [investigation],” said Burmeister.He claimed that media reports had made him look foolish.It was Burmeister and Abdool Aboobakar, the CEO of both the ODC and NDC, who signed off on the deal with Great Triangle Investments and the money was transferred to the company in portions from 2003.Over the last two months, the investigation team has grown to include not only lawyers acting for the ODC board, but also for Government as the main shareholder and the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC), which handed over N$55 million of its money to the ODC to be invested.The Police in South Africa – where a director and an associate who clinched the ODC deal live – and Botswana, where Great Triangle Investments was registered, have also been roped into the investigations.In addition, forensic auditors in Cape Town have been hired to help trace the myriad of bank accounts the money is said to have moved through.Great Triangle Chairperson Phillip Fourie and his associate, Tertius Theart, are the joint directors of at least 13 companies in South Africa, through which the ODC money is believed to have flowed.Theart is believed to be the man who handled the transaction.Fourie was a former CEO of the Amatola Water Board from which he was suspended in 200 for attempted fraud.Last month, the ODC laid a complaint of fraud with the Namibian Police and requested a Police officer to assist in the investigation.”I’m not trying to shed my responsibility.We are trying to attend to the responsibility we have.We are not trying to hide anything, but your reporting has done a lot of harm and we are not going to make public statements,” he said.Last week, Patrick Kauta, the lawyer acting on behalf of Government, returned from Botswana after spending the previous week in South Africa working on the ODC case.But what exactly has been achieved by these trips, if anything, remains firmly under wraps.Aboobakar was back at his office three weeks ago after being on sick leave for more than two months.When approached by The Namibian for an interview on the day he returned to office, he requested more time until he was feeling better.Since then, he has only been in office for about an hour each day, and has failed to respond to repeated attempts to speak to him.Instead, he chose to lash out at the media when contacted for information about an ODC management meeting, which was held at the end of last week.He accused the media of damaging investigations to track and return the money – which should have been repaid more than a year ago.’CAN’T BE FORCED’ Although Government funds the ODC and taxpayers’ money is involved, Burmeister said he could not be forced to divulge information on public demand, as the ODC was a private company.”At this point in time I have nothing to tell you.These things are doing damage to our investigation and it is best to say nothing,” said Burmeister.His remarks follow an initial promise at the end of July and another by the Ministry of Trade and Industry at the end of August to keep the public informed of progress.Over the last two weeks, Burmeister’s office has said that the ODC would issue a statement “soon” on the status of the investigation.But now Burmeister claims that the media were not patient enough.He felt that they were ‘writing at whim’ about what they felt people needed to know.The ODC Chairman has not spoken about the botched deal since The Namibian first reported two months ago that millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money were missing. Nonetheless, he said: “I expected a certain amount of trust.We have not been treated well and the way things have been reported has done harm to the whole thing [investigation],” said Burmeister.He claimed that media reports had made him look foolish.It was Burmeister and Abdool Aboobakar, the CEO of both the ODC and NDC, who signed off on the deal with Great Triangle Investments and the money was transferred to the company in portions from 2003.Over the last two months, the investigation team has grown to include not only lawyers acting for the ODC board, but also for Government as the main shareholder and the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC), which handed over N$55 million of its money to the ODC to be invested.The Police in South Africa – where a director and an associate who clinched the ODC deal live – and Botswana, where Great Triangle Investments was registered, have also been roped into the investigations.In addition, forensic auditors in Cape Town have been hired to help trace the myriad of bank accounts the money is said to have moved through.Great Triangle Chairperson Phillip Fourie and his associate, Tertius Theart, are the joint directors of at least 13 companies in South Africa, through which the ODC money is believed to have flowed.Theart is believed to be the man who handled the transaction.Fourie was a former CEO of the Amatola Water Board from which he was suspended in 200 for attempted fraud.Last month, the ODC laid a complaint of fraud with the Namibian Police and requested a Police officer to assist in the investigation.”I’m not trying to shed my responsibility.We are trying to attend to the responsibility we have.We are not trying to hide anything, but your reporting has done a lot of harm and we are not going to make public statements,” he said.Last week, Patrick Kauta, the lawyer acting on behalf of Government, returned from Botswana after spending the previous week in South Africa working on the ODC case.But what exactly has been achieved by these trips, if anything, remains firmly under wraps.Aboobakar was back at his office three weeks ago after being on sick leave for more than two months.When approached by The Namibian for an interview on the day he returned to office, he requested more time until he was feeling better.Since then, he has only been in office for about an hour each day, and has failed to respond to repeated attempts to speak to him.