A Namibian businessman and seven Chinese citizens have a made a first appearance in the Windhoek High Court on 1 632 criminal charges in connection with an alleged scam in which about N$3,1 billion was sent out of Namibia from 2013 to 2016.
The eight accused had a first pretrial hearing before judge Christie Liebenberg on Friday.
Their case was transferred from the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court to the High Court, where they are due to stand trial, near the end of November last year.
The eight accused are charged together with seven corporate entities that were controlled by some of the accused.
The state is alleging that they defrauded Namibia’s customs and excise authorities and Nedbank Namibia by declaring incorrect values for goods imported into Namibia and inflating the costs of freight and other charges for imports. This allegedly enabled them to send inflated amounts of money out of the country as supposed payment for imported goods.
The eight accused who appeared before Liebenberg are Walvis Bay-based businessman Laurensius Julius and Chinese business people Jack Huang, Tao Huizhong, Gao Zhihua, Jia Hong Ying, Cao Shuhua, Li Dan and Ying Zhang.
The corporate entities due to be prosecuted are the company Extreme Customs Clearing Services and the close corporation Organise Freight Services, which are both represented by Julius, and the close corporations Golden Phoenix Enterprises, represented by Tao, Trust Investments, represented by Gao, Jia Mu Trading, represented by Jia, Nam-Dam Import & Export, which is represented by Cao, and China South Industry and Trading, represented by Ying.
Julius’ Extreme Customs Clearing Services and Organise Freight Services are alleged to have handled customs procedures and payments for the imports on which the charges are based.
The charges consist of 762 counts of fraud, alternatively theft, 762 counts of money laundering, 103 charges of contravening the Customs and Excise Act by presenting false documents and making false declarations, and five charges of fraud, read with provisions of the Income Tax Act.
The eight accused are due to have another pretrial hearing in the High Court on 17 August.
The first arrests in the matter were carried out in December 2016.
All of the accused are free on bail.
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