Bail granted in tax extortion case

TSUMEB-BASED businessman Karel (‘Kallie’) Grunschloss and Ministry of Finance tax investigator Eustace Mujohn Mujohn, who are charged with trying to solicit a bribe of N$1 million in a tax extortion scam, were both granted bail in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

After close to three weeks in police custody, Grunschloss heard that magistrate Ruth Herunga has decided to grant him bail in an amount of N$500 000. Mujohn can be released from custody if he deposits bail of N$20 000, the magistrate also ruled.

Grunschloss and Mujohn may not contact any of the prosecution’s witnesses in their case following their release on bail, magistrate Herunga added.

They have to appear in court again on 15 June.

Grunschloss and Mujohn are charged with three counts in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act.

They are accused of having conspired to commit offences under the Anti-Corruption Act, corruptly using a public office or position to obtain gratification, and using a false document with an intention to mislead people.

The Anti-Corruption Commission’s head of investigations, Nelius Becker, told the court during the two men’s bail hearing that the three charges were based on evidence that Grunschloss approached a Walvis Bay businessman during February and March with a claim that he had a senior contact in the Ministry of Finance’s division responsible for tax audits and that he could help the businessman obtain favourable tax audit reports for his business in return for a payment of N$1 million.

The coastal businessman approached the ACC as a whistleblower, and more than a dozen conversations in which he and Grunschloss subsequently discussed Grunschloss’ proposal were thereafter recorded, Becker has told the court.

Grunschloss was arrested at a restaurant in Windhoek after he and the Walvis Bay businessman had a meeting during which Grunschloss showed him the supposed audit report that he could obtain for N$1 million, Becker also testified.

By the time they had that meeting, Grunschloss had already emailed to the whistleblower a false invoice from one of his businesses, Logistix International, which was supposed to serve as a cover for the payment of N$1 million that he was soliciting, Becker alleged.

He further testified that additional charges would definitely be added to the three existing counts as a result of evidence uncovered by ACC investigators since the two men’s arrest. Evidence collected so far led to a conclusion that Mujohn was feeding Grunschloss with confidential information on tax audits carried out by the Ministry of Finance, which Grunschloss then used to try to extract payments from people, Becker said.

Becker was opposed to the granting of bail to the two accused. He said it was discovered that after his arrest Grunschloss used a fellow detainee’s cellphone to send text messages to a potential witness in the case. The witness has reported to the ACC that Grunschloss approached him, too, with an offer that he could sort out supposed tax problems with the Ministry of Finance in return for a payment of N$1 million. That communication with the witness constituted interference with the ACC’s investigation, in Becker’s opinion.

In some of the messages Grunschloss told the potential witness to get rid of a cellphone through which the two of them communicated with each other, the magistrate was told. In a last message, which was sent after Grunschloss had made a first court appearance and had been told not to have contact with witnesses in the matter, he warned the recipient of the SMS that he could be visited by someone from the ACC, advised him to have a lawyer present when he spoke to the ACC, told him to say that the two of them had a business relationship and to deny that Grunschloss had ever asked him for money, and told him to delete the message.

With that last message Grunschloss appeared to be acting as if he was giving the witness legal advice or putting him at ease regarding an anticipated visit by the ACC, the magistrate commented in her ruling.

Defence lawyer Orben Sibeya represented Mujohn, senior counsel Raymond Heathcote, Jan Wessels and Sisa Namandje represented Grunschloss, and prosecutors Henry Muhongo and Tatelo Lusepani appeared for the state.