Finance and public enterprises minister Iipumbu Shiimi labelled corruption allegations levelled against him by activist Michael Amushelelo last week on social media as untruthful.
This comes after Amushelelo alleged that Shiimi used his influence to award an unadvertised N$451,8 million tender to Fabupharm (Pty) Ltd, which he said is controlled by proxies of Bank of Namibia (BoN) governor Johannes !Gawaxab.
Responding to questions sent to him by The Namibian, Shiimi refuted the graft allegations.
“There is no truth in those allegations. I have always maintained a high level of integrity and I will always continue to do so.”
Following Amushelelo’s corruption claims last Wednesday, Shiimi responded on his X page saying Amushelelo should not look for political relevance by tarnishing his name.
Amushelelo accused Shiimi of appointing his ex-colleagues when he left the helm of BoN as governor.
He listed Namibia Revenue Agency head Sam Shivute and Financial Intelligence Centre head Bryan Eiseb, who was appointed to the boards of Namib Desert Diamonds and the Namibia Institute of Pathology, BoN deputy governor Ebson Uanguta, who is the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia acting managing director, as well as !Gawaxab.
“It seems to me like Shiimi is only comfortable working with his former subordinates, so that he can continue giving them orders on what to do.
“This country is full of many competent individuals, but it seems like [Shiimi] is only willing to appoint his friends or should I say ex-colleagues.”
The allegations of the unadvertised tender awarded to Fabupharm, where !Gawaxab allegedly has shares, were labelled as ‘pure’ fabrications in Namibian Sun.
“Please do not be used by people. I am not involved at all at Fabupharm or any business in Namibia,” !Gawaxab told the daily.
“Check with the Business and Intellectual Property Authority who owns Fabupharm and you will see that my alleged involvement is devoid of all truth.”
Information on the Fabupharm website under partners shows that !Gawaxab is a founder of Eos Capital.
ALLEGATIONS
Amushelelo also alleged that Central Procurement Board of Namibia chairperson Amon Ngavetene signed off on the unadvertised tender for the supply and delivery of pharmaceutical products.
He said when the tender was advertised in 2022, the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) recommended that the tender be cancelled.
“The BEC was never recalled to come and evaluate this tender as per the recommendation, nor was the tender advertised again.
“So Shiimi just allowed time to lapse, so that everyone will forget, while the whole country was busy mourning the death of [the] late president [Hage] Geingob, Shiimi and !Gawaxab put plans in motion to corruptly award themselves a tender worth N$451 million.”
He further said !Gawaxab owns a company called Allegrow Fund (Pty), which owns shares in Fabupharm.
“Despite the BEC having requested to see who are the owners of Allegrow Fund, this information was concealed because the intention was to deceive the BEC.”
Ngavetene told The Namibian yesterday the tender was a direct procurement.
“You don’t advertise direct procurement. In terms of the act, if you read section 36, you already made out whom you want to procure from, so you don’t advertise it.”
FABUPHARM RESPONDS
Fabupharm chief operating officer Fanie Badenhorst said the tender was a direct procurement tender to local manufacturers.
“Items were selected from the international bid to give local manufacturers an opportunity to tender. The bid validity was extended until 21 June 2024. To date no bids have been awarded.”
He said !Gawaxab does not own shares in Fabupharm.
“The Allegrow Fund owns shares and this fund is being managed by Eos Capital. !Gawaxab was chairman of the Fabupharm board but resigned before he became governor of BoN.”
He said neither !Gawaxab nor any of his entities or close relatives have any relationship with Fabupharm Pty Ltd.
“Fabupharm is getting reputational damage due to politician’s agendas,” Badenhorst added.
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