Tax fraud saga trial delayed until next month

WINDHOEK, 23 Apr – The case of 19 people arrested in December 2015 for alleged tax fraud involving N.dollars 114 million, has been delayed until 24 May 2018.
The 19 accused made another appearance before High Court Judge President Petrus Damaseb on Monday during a pre-trial of case management review when their fraud case was remanded to allow both the prosecution and the defence to sort out outstanding issues relating to the case.
The defence lawyers were also provided with the voluminous disclosures containing copies of the charge sheet, photo plan and list of State witnesses in preparation of the defence of their clients.
The accused include three Namibians and 16 Angolan nationals.
All accused persons have already entered preliminary not guilty pleas to the charges against them on 21 June 2017.
The Namibians are Joshua Hidinwa, Mamsy Nuuyoma and Noa Naukosho.
The Angolans are Lukau Nestor, Benvindo Momafuba, Pembele Zimutu, Paulo Kiala, Joaquim Espanhol, Joao Manuel dos Santos, Tatiana Gonga, Carlos Eliseu, Isaac Cupessala, Paquete Jose, Eugenio Pio Do Amaral Gourgel, Malakias Rufine, Paulino Natal, Carlos Tchinduku, Miapa Nelson and Lucio Cazembe.
The accused were arrested by investigators attached to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the end of December 2015 for allegedly defrauding Government of about N.dollars 114 million through the Ministry of Finance over a period of a few years.
The arrests followed investigations by the ACC between January 2014 and December 2015 at the request of the ministry into cases where value added tax (VAT) receipts were forged in order to claim refunds from the Receiver of Revenue.
The 19 accused are each charged with a count of 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.
Local defence lawyers Kadhila Amoomo and George Neves are representing the accused persons who are free on bail of between N.dollars 10 000 and N.dollars 50 000 each.
(NAMPA)