Suspects in Multichoice fraud saga face trial in High Court

WINDHOEK, 18 MAY – Three persons arrested in 2017 in connection with their involvement in a criminal case in which Multichoice Namibia was allegedly defrauded over N.dollars 2 million, will face trial in the Windhoek High Court.
The three accused- Manga Nawa Mukena; 37; Celestino Gabriel Antonio; also 37; and Joseph Mukena made another appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court here on Friday where their case was transferred to the High Court.
The transfer was done as per decision taken by the Office of the Prosecutor-General, and the three accused are scheduled to make a first appearance in the Windhoek High Court on 21 June 2018.
In addition, it was also ordered that a complete record of the proceedings in the magistrate’s court be forwarded to the Registrar of the Windhoek High Court.
Antonio alongside Nawa-Mukena, a former marketing manager at the television services company, are facing charges of fraud, forgery and uttering a forged document.
All the charges that Antonio and Nawa-Mukena face are in connection with the alleged falsification of about 80 invoices between 01 April 2013 and 17 March 2017 that cost the television company over N.dollars 2 million.
According to the indictment, the two accused allegedly falsified the invoices for advertisements in Kundana (Pty) Limited, knowing fully that the newspaper did not provide advertising services to Multichoice Namibia.
The accused then, and by means of false pretence, induced Roger Gertze or Multichoice Namibia to the actual loss of about N.dollars 2, 088,071.
It is further alleged that Nawa-Mukena and Antonio presented the invoices for advertising services to the television company for payment, but provided their own bank account numbers as being those of Kundana (Pty) Limited.
Nawa-Mukena and Antonio are free on bail of N.dollars 50,000 and N.dollars 25,000 respectively.
Joseph Mukena, who was only formally added to the case on Friday, is free on a warning.
The trio appeared before Magistrate Liwena Walter Mikiti.
Public Prosecutor Tatelo Cuthbert Lusepani represented the State.
Orben Sibeya and Mbanga Siyomuinji are defending the three accused persons.

NAMPA