Kandara ready for showdown in court

LAZARUS Kandara is back in town. And today he will make a much-anticipated appearance in the High Court in Windhoek to give his account of events around the Social Security Commission’s investment of N$30 million with Avid Investment Corporation, the company that he was running.

Kandara was spotted leaving the office of his lawyer, Lucius Murorua, in the capital yesterday afternoon. Telling The Namibian that he had returned to Namibia on Sunday, he declined to grant an extended interview, remarking that he would have his say in the High Court today.Kandara has been subpoenaed to give evidence before Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote, who has been conducting a Companies Act inquiry into the N$30 million investment.Today will be the tenth day of proceedings in the inquiry, which Acting Judge Heathcote ordered to be held when he issued an order provisionally liquidating Avid on July 12.Avid was placed in provisional liquidation at the request of the SSC because it had been unable to pay back the SSC’s N$30 million, plus promised interest of some N$1,48 million, since the money was due to be returned to the SSC late in May.As soon as the inquiry started, Kandara’s name started surfacing in evidence before Acting Judge Heathcote.Kandara, however, was not at court as the inquiry proceeded – he was reported to be in South Africa, where he was said to be trying to trace and arrange for the return of the money the SSC had agreed to invest through Avid for a four-month period from late January.The success – or not – of those efforts can be expected to be something the court would want to hear from Kandara when he goes into the witness box today.What the court has heard so far, was that Kandara played a key role in Avid, and was in effect the company’s Chief Executive Officer, even if the members of the Avid board of directors claimed that he had never actually been officially appointed in that position.In dealings with the SSC, Kandara however disappeared from view, with Avid directors Paulus Kapia and Inez /Gases having been the face of the company as it made a pitch to the SSC for money to be invested through it.In the course of this campaign by Avid to secure an investment from the SSC, it has been indicated to the court in affidavits that, political name-dropping was used to persuade the SSC to invest money through Avid, which was depicted as having been partly owned by the Swapo Party Youth League.In one of the affidavits, it was claimed that a fellow member of Deputy Works Minister Paulus Kapia in the Swapo Party Youth League, National Youth Council Acting Secretary General Ralph Blaauw, also mentioned a stake the then President of Namibia supposedly had in Avid when Blaauw allegedly tried to persuade the SSC to channel investments in Avid’s direction.As de facto CEO of Avid, Kandara is claimed to have instructed Avid’s bankers on January 28 – two days after the SSC had transferred N$30 million to Avid’s bank account – to transfer N$29,5 million to Namangol Investments, another asset management company in Windhoek.The remaining N$500 000 that made up the money Avid had received from the SSC, was used to pay some debts that Avid had at that stage, the court has heard.Kandara can expect to be questioned about that, too.He can further expect to face questions about what happened with the SSC’s money after it had gone to Namangol Investments.The latter company’s CEO, Nico Josea, has told the court that on Kandara’s instructions he transferred N$20 million of the money to a South African bank account in the name of Alan Rosenberg Investment Services, while Kandara also instructed him to invest a further N$6,3 million on his behalf and to return the remaining N$3,2 million to Kandara.With the inquiry having also heard allusions to bribes or kickbacks being offered or paid during the SSC-Avid investment deal, Kandara can expect questions on that score, too.Josea, who was arrested on a charge of fraud, alternatively theft, on July 26 in connection with his role in the deal, has told the court that Kandara left a list with names and apparent amounts of money written next to them in his office one day.This list will probably feature in the questioning.He will probably also face questioning about claims that his wife, Christophine Kandara, made in the court last week and the week before, when she told Acting Judge Heathcote that her husband had instructed her to hand over cash amounts of N$40 000 to a number of former or then still serving directors of Avid, being Kapia, Labour Ministry official Otniel Podewiltz, one Shiweda, and also to Blaauw, whose wife is a director of Avid.Telling The Namibian that he had returned to Namibia on Sunday, he declined to grant an extended interview, remarking that he would have his say in the High Court today.Kandara has been subpoenaed to give evidence before Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote, who has been conducting a Companies Act inquiry into the N$30 million investment.Today will be the tenth day of proceedings in the inquiry, which Acting Judge Heathcote ordered to be held when he issued an order provisionally liquidating Avid on July 12.Avid was placed in provisional liquidation at the request of the SSC because it had been unable to pay back the SSC’s N$30 million, plus promised interest of some N$1,48 million, since the money was due to be returned to the SSC late in May. As soon as the inquiry started, Kandara’s name started surfacing in evidence before Acting Judge Heathcote.Kandara, however, was not at court as the inquiry proceeded – he was reported to be in South Africa, where he was said to be trying to trace and arrange for the return of the money the SSC had agreed to invest through Avid for a four-month period from late January.The success – or not – of those efforts can be expected to be something the court would want to hear from Kandara when he goes into the witness box today.What the court has heard so far, was that Kandara played a key role in Avid, and was in effect the company’s Chief Executive Officer, even if the members of the Avid board of directors claimed that he had never actually been officially appointed in that position.In dealings with the SSC, Kandara however disappeared from view, with Avid directors Paulus Kapia and Inez /Gases having been the face of the company as it made a pitch to the SSC for money to be invested through it.In the course of this campaign by Avid to secure an investment from the SSC, it has been indicated to the court in affidavits that, political name-dropping was used to persuade the SSC to invest money through Avid, which was depicted as having been partly owned by the Swapo Party Youth League.In one of the affidavits, it was claimed that a fellow member of Deputy Works Minister Paulus Kapia in the Swapo Party Youth League, National Youth Council Acting Secretary General Ralph Blaauw, also mentioned a stake the then President of Namibia supposedly had in Avid when Blaauw allegedly tried to persuade the SSC to channel investments in Avid’s direction.As de facto CEO of Avid, Kandara is claimed to have instructed Avid’s bankers on January 28 – two days after the SSC had transferred N$30 million to Avid’s bank account – to transfer N$29,5 million to Namangol Investments, another asset management company in Windhoek.The remaining N$500 000 that made up the money Avid had received from the SSC, was used to pay some debts that Avid had at that stage, the court has heard.Kandara can expect to be questioned about that, too.He can further expect to face questions about what happened with the SSC’s money after it had gone to Namangol Investments.The latter company’s CEO, Nico Josea, has told the court that on Kandara’s instructions he transferred N$20 million of the money to a South African bank account in the name of Alan Rosenberg Investment Services, while Kandara also instructed him to invest a further N$6,3 million on his behalf and to return the remaining N$3,2 million to Kandara.With the inquiry having also heard allusions to bribes or kickbacks being offered or paid during the SSC-Avid investment deal, Kandara can expect questions on that score, too.Josea, who was arrested on a charge of fraud, alternatively theft, on July 26 in connection with his role in the deal, has told the court that Kandara left a list with names and apparent amounts of money written next to them in his office one day.This list will probably feature in the questioning.He will probably also face questioning about claims that his wife, Christophine Kandara, made in the court last week and the week before, when she told Acting Judge Heathcote that her husband had instructed her to hand over cash amounts of N$40 000 to a number of former or then still serving directors of Avid, being Kapia, Labour Ministry official Otniel Podewiltz, one Shiweda, and also to Blaauw, whose wife is a director of Avid.