Namibia Local Business Association spokesperson Marius Nangolo says the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) has failed local business people by allocating two loans to a company owned by Chinese businesswoman Stina Wu.
DBN in 2017, allocated a N$43-million loan to Marigold Hotel Developer, a company owned by Wu.
DBN has now accused the Marigold Hotel Developer in court documents of breaching a loan agreement by failing to punctually make monthly payments to the bank.
Wu owns multiple properties around the country, which include the Etango Shopping Centre, one of the biggest malls at Oshakati, the Marigold Hotel in Windhoek and a shopping mall at Divudu.
“They are the ones receiving loans while Namibians are not.
The government has failed us.
Even if that person claims to be Namibian, our leaders have failed us on this because strict measures need to be enforced to ensure Namibians come first. Now foreign investors are even getting huge amounts to compete with us . . . We condemn this completely. We expected her to bring more investments here,” Nangolo said yesterday.
Wu was not available for comment yesterday, as calls to her phone number were not going through and she did not respond to two text messages sent to her.
According to court documents, Wu’s Marigold Hotel Developer took two loans amounting to N$43 million from the DBN. Accruing interest and penalties saw the total debt escalate to N$68 million.
The company concluded a written loan agreement with the DBN in January 2017.
In terms of the agreement, the DBN provided a loan of N$20 million to the company, and the loan had to be repaid in monthly instalments over a period of ten years.
Marigold Hotel Developer listed a property in Windhoek and the companies First Wall Property and AH Helmsman Group as security for the loan from the DBN.
In July 2017, Marigold Hotel Developer, represented by Wu, concluded another loan agreement of N$23 million with the DBN.
In January 2020, Wu and the DBN agreed that she would also provide a mortgage bond over a property at Rundu as additional security for her company’s loans.
Wu concluded a restructured and consolidated property finance agreement with the DBN in February 2021, the bank says. At that stage, Marigold Hotel Developer’s restructured debt to the bank amounted to N$50 million.
“The restructured loan, together with interest, would be repaid by Marigold Hotel Developer to DBN, by way of monthly installment payments within a period of 120 months, with a grace period of six months of the capital,” DBN says in the court documents.
According to the DBN, on 29 February this year, Marigold Hotel Developer was in arrears to the tune of N$68 million, including interest.
The DBN says on 28 November 2022, it demanded payment from Marigold Hotel Developer, but the company failed or refused to make the payment to the bank.
The DBN wants the court to order Marigold Hotel Developer to pay N$68 million plus interest to the bank.
The bank has also requested a court order to declare properties listed as securities to the loan executable, allowing the bank to seize and sell them to recover the outstanding debt.
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