VAT refund fraud trial set for January 2019

WINDHOEK, 12 SEP – The trial of 16 people arrested in December 2015 in connection with a value added tax (VAT) fraud scam involving about N$ 210 million, will begin in the High Court here on 21 January 2019.
The trial of this matter is now set down to kick-off before Acting High Court Judge Kobus Miller after an agreement reached between the accused persons’ defence lawyers and prosecution representative, State Advocate Henry Muhongo in court on Wednesday morning.
The accused persons made another appearance before High Court Judge-President Petrus Damaseb on Wednesday morning when the date for the start of the trial was made public in court.
Damaseb also informed the accused that his office is now busy making arrangements to obtain two court assessors to come and sit with Judge Miller and assist him during the proceedings of the trial because of the complex nature of the charges.
The group includes two Namibians and 14 Angolans.
The two Namibians in the matter are Mamsy Nuuyoma and Noah Boykie Naukosho, while the Angolan nationals are Lukau Nestor, Benvindo Momafuba, Pembele Zimutu, Paulo Kiala, Joao Manuel dos Santos, Tatiana Gonga, Carlos Eliseu, Isaac Cupessala, Paquete Jose, Malakias Rufine, Carlos Tchinduku, Miapa Nelson, Joaquim Pedro Espanhol and Lucio Cazembe.
The accused were all arrested by investigators attached to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the end of December 2015 for allegedly defrauding Government out of N.dollars 210 million through the Ministry of Finance over a few years.
Their arrests followed investigations by the ACC between January 2014 and December 2015 at the request of the ministry into cases where VAT receipts were forged in order to claim refunds from the Receiver of Revenue.
The accused are charged with 512 counts of fraud, conspiring to commit fraud, forgery and uttering, a count of corruptly using false documents and a charge of corruptly giving a false document to an agent of the company, Aveshe Consultancy, which manages VAT refunds on behalf of the finance ministry.
They are being represented by local defence lawyers Kadhila Amoomo, Bradley Basson, Kalundu Kamwi, Trevor Brockerhoff, Vetu Uanivi, Henry Shimutwikeni, George Neves, Hipura Ujaha and Appollos Shimakeleni.
All the accused – except Nuuyoma, Nestor, Momafuba, Zimutu, Gonga, Cazembe, Cupessala and Naukosho – are in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility’s trial-awaiting section. NAMPA