VAT refund scam court case sees delays

WINDHOEK, 07 NOV – The case of 16 people arrested in December 2015 in connection with value added tax (VAT) fraud involving about N$ 210 million, was on Wednesday postponed until the end of this month.
The accused persons made another appearance before High Court Judge Boas Usiku when their alleged fraud case was postponed to 22 November 2018 to allow the Justice Ministry’s Directorate of Legal Aid enough time to appoint lawyers to represent some of the accused, who still have not secured State-funded legal representation.
Meanwhile, the proceedings of this trial are finally set to start before Acting High Court Judge Kobus Miller after an agreement reached by the accused persons’ defence lawyers and prosecution representative, State Advocate Henry Muhongo in court on 12 September 2018.
As per this agreement, the Registrar of the High Court is now busy making arrangements to obtain two court assessors to sit with Judge Miller and assist him during the proceedings of the trial, because of the complex nature of the charges.
The accused group includes two Namibians and 14 Angolans.
The two Namibians in the matter are Mamsy Nuuyoma and Noah 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 arrested by investigators attached to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the end of December 2015 for allegedly defrauding Government of N$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.
Nuuyoma, Nestor, Momafuba, Zimutu, Gonga, Cazembe, Cupessala and Naukosho are out on bail, while the rest are in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility’s trial-awaiting section.
(NAMPA)