Swapo weighs suing Teko

SWAPO is considering taking legal action against Teko Trading partners Teckla Lameck and Kongo Mokaxwa for allegedly defrauding and stealing business from a company in its business empire.

Teko Trading and its principals made headlines recently after they were arrested and hauled before court on charges of fraud, corruption and bribery in connection with a US$55,348 million contract for the supply of Chinese-made X-ray scanning equipment to the Ministry of Finance. As part of the deal, they earned N$42 million in commission, which some party faithful said could have bolstered Swapo Party coffers.The intended Swapo civil suit is reported to centre around trucks Lameck and Mokaxwa are alleged to have bought ‘dubiously’ while on company business to China. They were employed by Namibia Contract Haulage (NCH), which is a subsidiary of Kalahari Holdings, wholly owned by Swapo. While how they obtained the trucks has been put at the heart of the dispute, it is believed that the net will eventually widen and zoom in on how the two landed themselves a multimillion-dollar consultancy with Chinese scanner manufacturer Nuctech.The Namibian’s investigation established that both NCH and Teko entered into an agreement with Nuctech on the same day ‘to promote Nuctech’s products and lobby Namibian Government to raise the issue with Chinese government for funding of high energy X-ray non-intrusive container/vehicle inspection system under bilateral co-operation agreement’.Lameck signed two separate agreements – on behalf of NCH and her company, Teko – on the same day, April 3 2007. The second contract was apparently just a change of names – instead of NCH, Teko was inserted. The Namibian could not establish which agreement was signed first.Teko earned a commission of N$42 million as consultants to Nuctech for the supply of scanners and X-ray machines to the Ministry of Finance.The Teko duo together with their Chinese employee, Yang Fan, who also doubled as Nuctech Africa representative, are now the subject of a corruption probe. The commission the trio earned was splashed on luxury vehicles, farms and prime property. The assets bought by the three from the multimillion-dollar commission have been provisionally frozen since July 6. The court order was the first of its kind to be issued under Namibia’s Prevention of Organised Crime Act.The Prosecutor is charging that the agreements between Nuctech and Teko are a sham, tailored merely to facilitate the funnelling of massive amounts of Namibian taxpayers’ money into the pockets of Lameck, Mokaxwa and Yang, while Teko was never intended to do any noteworthy work to earn such a generous income. COMMISSIONSAlthough the two separate agreements entered into between Nuctech and NCH on the one side and Teko on the other appear to be carbon copies of each other, changes were also made to commission payment provision. While the contract with NCH provides for a 10 per cent commission on the purchase price of the scanners, the Teko agreement states that 10 per cent commission would be paid on a bottom-line price of no less than US$2,5 million.For any amount exceeding the bottom-line price, the commission would be 50 per cent of the amount exceeding US$2,5 million.But, on May 20 2008, Teko entered into another ‘Agency Agreement’ with Nuctech, again signed by Lameck, still the chairperson of NCH, detailing commission payments to the Namibian outfit. But, this time NCH was completely left out of the lucrative deal. The ‘Agency Agreement’ was signed five days after the Ministry of Finance inked the purchase contract for the supply and maintenance of scanners and X-ray inspection systems.All agreements between Nuctech, NCH and Teko were signed by Yang Fan on behalf of Nuctech.TIPPER TRUCKSThe Namibian understands that NCH is also contemplating seizing four tipper trucks, which the company believes were acquired by Lameck and Mokaxwa with their employer’s money. The action was started after the two allegedly failed to prove that they did not use NCH resources to acquire the trucks.Mokaxwa owns two trucks, Lameck one, while the fourth truck is said to have been sold to an Oshakati-based businessman. The Namibian understands that all four trucks were imported from China following Lameck and Mokaxwa’s visit to China on NCH business.NCH lawyer Johan van Vuuren of Krüger, Van Vuuren and Company, confirmed to The Namibian that he was briefed by his clients and would set the process in motion soon.He said details of the legal action had not been finalised yet and no summons had been issued yet. The Teko duo were sent to China to acquire tipper trucks and buses for NCH. They were supposed to buy eight tipper trucks, 10 60-seat buses and two 27-seat buses. The Namibian has seen the quotations and invoices issued to NCH by a Chinese company. A quote dated May 22 2006 stated that all 20 vehicles would cost US$981 600. But a subsequent invoice, dated December 16 2006, indicated that the cost for the 20 vehicles had escalated to more than US$1,1 million. NCH learned in 2007, when the vehicles arrived from China, that four additional trucks were part of the consignment. A source close to the company said that neither Lameck nor Mokaxwa could provide proof that they had used their own money to buy the four trucks.Questions about the trucks resurfaced after the company’s auditors alerted it to the fact that Lameck and Mokaxwa did not declare to the company their own interest in the transport sector, which is in direct competition with NCH.Mokaxwa, who at the time was in charge of NCH, is said to have tendered for jobs with the Roads Contractor Company, for which NCH also did work. The two resigned from NCH after they were confronted with the allegations late last year.NCH is now struggling, as about five of the 10 buses bought in China are grounded, causing the company losses. One of the buses is believed to have never made a trip out of Windhoek. There are no parts available and China FAW group, the company which sold the vehicles, is not responding to any requests from NCH. It appears that no after-sale service agreement is in place and NCH is struggling to acquire parts for the buses.tileni@nambian.com.na