Kapia tried to get shares for SPYL – Blaauw

PAULUS Kapia asked for the Swapo Party Youth League to be given shares in Avid Investment Corporation, Kapia’s party comrade Ralph Blaauw told the High Court inquiry into a doomed investment of N$30 million by the Social Security Commission with Avid yesterday.

Attempts by the Youth League over the past month to distance itself from Avid, and to dispute claims that it had held a stake in the company, may have received a setback from within the SPYL fold when Blaauw – a Swapo Member of the National Assembly in the last months of last year and up to March 20 this year, Acting Secretary General of the National Youth Council from May until his resignation last week, and still a member of the SPYL’s Central Committee – got his turn in the witness stand before Acting Judge Raymond Heathcote yesterday. In July, Kapia, when asked who the company’s shareholders were, told the court that there had been a rearrangement of shareholders by the time that he resigned as one of Avid’s directors on March 20, and that the company’s auditors were still in the process of finalising this process.While Blaauw also appeared to be plagued by bouts of forgetfulness about parts of his alleged involvement in Avid’s dealings when he gave evidence yesterday, he could, however, enlighten the court on one aspect at least: the matter of the SPYL connection in Avid’s shareholding.Blaauw testified that his wife, lawyer Sharon Blaauw, told him around March last year that Lazarus Kandara had approached her with an offer for her to become a director of Avid.Blaauw said he saw Avid “as a young black company that will make inroads in the financial sector”, and for that reason he decided to help it.”I at that stage really believed in this company’s idea,” Blaauw stated.Part of the help that he gave was to assist Kandara in getting more directors on board, Blaauw related.Kapia was one of them.He did not know, however, whether he told Kapia of Kandara’s involvement in Avid, Blaauw said.Kapia in any event went on to become an Avid board member, and at some stage after that, while he and Blaauw were having a conversation, he mentioned to Blaauw that he had spoken to Avid’s board chairperson, Inez /Gâses, to acquire some shares in Avid for the SPYL, Blaauw told the court.Kapia also said that /Gâses was to come back to him on that issue, Blaauw said.At a later stage, Blaauw added, /Gâses told him that an offer had been made to give the SPYL a stake of between five and eight per cent in Avid’s shareholding.He knew that the matter still had to go to the SPYL’s National Executive Committee, because that was the procedure in the organisation, Blaauw said.The SPYL has denied that it ever had Avid shares.According to evidence before the court, Blaauw’s involvement with Avid did not stop with his linking up Kapia to the company.But according to Blaauw himself yesterday, most of the other claims about the role that he was said to have played in helping to convince the SSC to invest the money with Avid, were simply lies.About Kandara’s testimony that Blaauw was in effect, although not officially, a director of Avid, but that his wife served on the board as a front for him, Blaauw responded: “I say it’s a lie.”On a claim that the SSC’s suspended General Manager: Finance and Administration, Avril Green, made in an affidavit where he stated that Blaauw had mentioned to him that the SPYL had 80 per cent of the shares in Avid, Blaauw also answered: “That’s a lie”.On another claim in Green’s affidavit, where he stated that Blaauw had mentioned to him that that President Sam Nujoma, too, had a stake in Avid, but that this would not be disclosed anywhere, Blaauw had a one-word answer “Lie”.And on another claim from Green, that Blaauw had told him that “higher authority” would speak to the SSC’s CEO, Tuli Hiveluah, to sway him to invest money with Avid, Blaauw answered: “The man is lying.”Blaauw also flatly denied the parts of the Kandara couple’s testimony where they told the court that on Kandara’s instructions Mrs Kandara had handed N$40 000 in cash to Blaauw shortly after the SSC-Avid investment deal.Soon after that claimed handover, Kandara himself also handed another N$40 000 to Blaauw, Kandara told the Acting Judge when he testified.He never visited Mrs Kandara at her house to receive money from her, did not receive money from her, and did not receive any other money either, and neither did he expect any money, Blaauw said.Richard Metcalfe, the lawyer representing Mathias Shiweda, who was one of the people that Blaauw admitted having linked up with Avid, made it clear to Blaauw that he was not convinced by Blaauw’s claims of non-involvement in key actions of Avid in which he had been claimed to have played a central role.”Pardon me, but it seems to me that you were inextricably involved in all of this,” Metcalfe told Blaauw at one stage.He went on to tell Blaauw that it appeared to him that Blaauw’s involvement was a lot more than he would admit, and that he had in fact been a lynchpin in the whole Avid affair.Blaauw first replied that he had genuinely believed that the idea behind the establishment of Avid was a good one, involving a trustworthy partner in the form of Sasfin.When Metcalfe pressed on with the same line, Blaauw answered: “I think you are entitled to your view.””Must be a hard life, Mr Blaauw,” Acting Judge Heathcote remarked at that point.”Everyone is implicating, drawing you in, but you cannot say why.”In July, Kapia, when asked who the company’s shareholders were, told the court that there had been a rearrangement of shareholders by the time that he resigned as one of Avid’s directors on March 20, and that the company’s auditors were still in the process of finalising this process.While Blaauw also appeared to be plagued by bouts of forgetfulness about parts of his alleged involvement in Avid’s dealings when he gave evidence yesterday, he could, however, enlighten the court on one aspect at least: the matter of the SPYL connection in Avid’s shareholding.Blaauw testified that his wife, lawyer Sharon Blaauw, told him around March last year that Lazarus Kandara had approached her with an offer for her to become a director of Avid.Blaauw said he saw Avid “as a young black company that will make inroads in the financial sector”, and for that reason he decided to help it.”I at that stage really believed in this company’s idea,” Blaauw stated.Part of the help that he gave was to assist Kandara in getting more directors on board, Blaauw related.Kapia was one of them.He did not know, however, whether he told Kapia of Kandara’s involvement in Avid, Blaauw said.Kapia in any event went on to become an Avid board member, and at some stage after that, while he and Blaauw were having a conversation, he mentioned to Blaauw that he had spoken to Avid’s board chairperson, Inez /Gâses, to acquire some shares in Avid for the SPYL, Blaauw told the court.Kapia also said that /Gâses was to come back to him on that issue, Blaauw said.At a later stage, Blaauw added, /Gâses told him that an offer had been made to give the SPYL a stake of between five and eight per cent in Avid’s shareholding.He knew that the matter still had to go to the SPYL’s National Executive Committee, because that was the procedure in the organisation, Blaauw said.The SPYL has denied that it ever had Avid shares.According to evidence before the court, Blaauw’s involvement with Avid did not stop with his linking up Kapia to the company.But according to Blaauw himself yesterday, most of the other claims about the role that he was said to have played in helping to convince the SSC to invest the money with Avid, were simply lies.About Kandara’s testimony that Blaauw was in effect, although not officially, a director of Avid, but that his wife served on the board as a front for him, Blaauw responded: “I say it’s a lie.”On a claim that the SSC’s suspended General Manager: Finance and Administration, Avril Green, made in an affidavit where he stated that Blaauw had mentioned to him that the SPYL had 80 per cent of the shares in Avid, Blaauw also answered:
“That’s a lie”.On another claim in Green’s affidavit, where he stated that Blaauw had mentioned to him that that President Sam Nujoma, too, had a stake in Avid, but that this would not be disclosed anywhere, Blaauw had a one-word answer “Lie”.And on another claim from Green, that Blaauw had told him that “higher authority” would speak to the SSC’s CEO, Tuli Hiveluah, to sway him to invest money with Avid, Blaauw answered: “The man is lying.”Blaauw also flatly denied the parts of the Kandara couple’s testimony where they told the court that on Kandara’s instructions Mrs Kandara had handed N$40 000 in cash to Blaauw shortly after the SSC-Avid investment deal.Soon after that claimed handover, Kandara himself also handed another N$40 000 to Blaauw, Kandara told the Acting Judge when he testified.He never visited Mrs Kandara at her house to receive money from her, did not receive money from her, and did not receive any other money either, and neither did he expect any money, Blaauw said.Richard Metcalfe, the lawyer representing Mathias Shiweda, who was one of the people that Blaauw admitted having linked up with Avid, made it clear to Blaauw that he was not convinced by Blaauw’s claims of non-involvement in key actions of Avid in which he had been claimed to have played a central role.”Pardon me, but it seems to me that you were inextricably involved in all of this,” Metcalfe told Blaauw at one stage.He went on to tell Blaauw that it appeared to him that Blaauw’s involvement was a lot more than he would admit, and that he had in fact been a lynchpin in the whole Avid affair.Blaauw first replied that he had genuinely believed that the idea behind the establishment of Avid was a good one, involving a trustworthy partner in the form of Sasfin.When Metcalfe pressed on with the same line, Blaauw answered: “I think you are entitled to your view.””Must be a hard life, Mr Blaauw,” Acting Judge Heathcote remarked at that point.”Everyone is implicating, drawing you in, but you cannot say why.”