Teko trio deny any wrongdoing in retrial

WINDHOEK, 14 MAY – Two Namibians and a Chinese national arrested in 2009 for alleged fraud of N$ 120 million at the Ministry of Finance over the purchase of security scanning equipment, on Monday again denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

The two Namibians – Teckla Lameck and Jerobeam Mokaxwa – and Chinese national, Yang Fan entered not guilty pleas when their retrial began before High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg. The Supreme Court on 20 July 2017 ordered that Acting High Court Judge Maphios Cheda be recused from presiding over the trial.

The three accused denied any guilt for a second time to a total of 18 charges of fraud, an alternative count of theft, three charges in respect of the Immigration Control Act 7 of 1993, two charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 29 of 2004 and a charge under the Anti-Corruption Act 8 of 2003, a count of theft by false pretences under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Theft Act 12 of 1999, on which they are accused of allegedly having conspired to commit the criminal acts.

The State alleges the three accused defrauded the Namibian Government, the Ministry of Finance or its permanent secretary of about N$120 million, between 01 October 2006 and 17 March 2009 by creating the impression that co-accused Yang was only representing Chinese security scanning equipment manufacturer, Nuctech Company in the negotiation and finalisation of an agreement between the finance ministry and Nuctech.
Yang, however, also represented Teko Trading CC, a close corporation of Lameck and Mokaxwa.

The trio had allegedly inflated the purchasing price of the security scanning equipment so that commission payments could be made to Teko Trading CC, and allegedly shared the money among themselves.
They were arrested between 08 and 09 July 2009 by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigators.
The Namibians are free on bail of N$50 000 each and Yang is free on bail of N.dollars 1 million.

Advocate Gerson Hinda and Sisa Namandje are defending the three accused.

The defence team also provided the court with a joint statement in terms of Section 115 of the Criminal Procedures Act of 1977, in which the accused denied all the charges against them and challenged the prosecution to prove its allegations contained in the indictment.
State Advocate Dominic Lisulo, assisted by Constance Moyo, are defending the State.
The retrial continues Tuesday.
NAMPA