RCC ex-boss arranged payment for co-accused

FORMER Roads Contractor Company (RCC) chief executive officer Kelly Nghixulifwa arranged the payment of a “facilitation fee” by the construction firm that built the parastatal’s head office to a company which was unknown to the firm, a witness testified in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Jannie Louw, former chief executive officer of construction company Murray & Roberts in Namibia, told judge Christie Liebenberg he was approached by Hafeni Nghinamwaami, who asked him if Murray & Roberts would be interested in building the RCC’s head office in Windhoek, and that Nghinamwaami thereafter played a key role in setting up a meeting with Nghixulifwa and the RCC’s financial manager.

Louw said at the meeting at a Windhoek hotel in December 2004 Nghixulifwa agreed that Murray & Roberts would be appointed to construct the RCC head office, and also said a fee would have to be paid to the company Cradle Investments.

According to Louw, that was the first time he had heard of Cradle Investments.

He also said Nghixulifwa mentioned that Nghinamwaami wanted to be paid N$171 000, and that he would negotiate with Nghinamwaami to lower that amount.

In the end it was agreed that Cradle Investments would be paid N$150 000 and that this amount would be covered by an advance payment of N$500 000 which the RCC made to Murray & Roberts before the construction firm started its work on the project, Louw said.

The payment of N$150 000 was made to Cradle Investments in the middle of December 2004, he said.

Louw is testifying as a state witness in the trial in which Nghixulifwa, Nghinamwaami and another accused, Anna Ndoroma, are charged.

The three accused denied guilt on all charges on Tuesday last week.

The charges are connected to the state-owned RCC’s involvement in the B1 City property development project in Windhoek and the construction of the RCC head office between 2004 and 2006.

Nghixulifwa is charged with four counts of corruptly using an office or position for gratification, four counts of fraud, two charges of failing to disclose that he had an interest in companies with which the RCC did business, and one count of dealing with gratification derived from corruption.

Ndoroma and Nghinamwaami are each charged with three counts of fraud and one count of dealing with gratification derived from corruption.

The prosecution is alleging that Nghixulifwa was a shareholder in Cradle Investments, of which Nghinamwaami was a director, and that Ndoroma held Nghixulifwa’s stake in that company as a nominee shareholder.

The state is also alleging that Nghixulifwa, Nghinamwaami and Ndoroma defrauded the RCC and Murray & Roberts in December 2004 by concealing Nghixulifwa’s shareholding in Cradle Investments and inducing the RCC and Murray & Roberts to pay a “facilitation fee” of N$150 000 to the company and Nghinamwaami for the role they had supposedly played in the construction of a new head office for the RCC.

It is alleged that in fact Nghinamwaami and Cradle Investments had not been appointed as project facilitators and were not entitled to receive such a fee.

Louw told the court he never agreed to have Nghinamwaami appointed as facilitator for the RCC head office construction project. However, he also said Nghinamwaami played a crucial role in setting up the meeting at which Nghixulifwa agreed to choose Murray & Roberts to build the RCC head office, and that he did not think that meeting would have happened without Nghinamwaami’s involvement.

After the payment of N$150 000 had been made to Cradle Investments, Nghinamwaami had no further involvement in the construction project, Louw said.

In a plea explanation given to the court last week, Nghixulifwa stated he did not have any material interest in Cradle Investments or in a contract between the company and the RCC.

In his plea explanation, Nghinamwaami said he did not portray himself as project facilitator.

Louw is due to continue testifying tomorrow.

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