Sale of Oshakati property ruled invalid

OSHAKATI businessman George Namundjebo has landed himself in some very hot legal water for illegally ‘selling’ an Ohlthaver & List property at Oshakati in December 2004 with forged company documents.

With Namundjebo having sold the property for N$4,2 million to fruit and vegetable dealer Shamil Dirk, a High Court Judge this week referred the matter to the Office of the Prosecutor General to carry out an investigation into Namundjebo’s conduct.In a 32-page ruling issued on Wednesday, Judge Louis Muller declared the sale of an Oshakati shopping and office complex by Namundjebo to Executive Properties CC, a close corporation owned by Dirk, as null and void.Judge Muller also ordered the Registrar of Deeds to cancel the property transfer and a N$4,75 million notarial bond held over the property by First National Bank (FNB), and that all costs for the legal proceedings before him be borne by Namundjebo, Dirk and FNB.Dirk now will have to repay FNB the N$4,75 million loan he had made to finance the deal, Judge Muller ruled in dismissing Namundjebo and his co-respondents’ legal arguments that even if the sale was not fully authorised, it still was valid.The fact that Namundjebo failed to submit any sworn opposing affidavit, or appear in court to give evidence under oath, certainly did not help his or his co-respondents’ cases, leaving Namundjebo’s co-respondents to rely on little more than assumptions and legal theory in court, the Judge commented.In the case, argued on July 20, the company Oshakati Towers (Pty) Ltd, which is wholly owned by O&L’s property division WUM Properties, had requested Namundjebo, Dirk and his Executive Properties CC, FNB and the Registrar of Deeds to cancel the sale of Erf 1314 in Oshakati.In an affidavit filed with the court, O&L director Udo Stritter sketched how in early 2007 he had heard that a third party had begun claiming to be the new owner of Erf 1314, which Oshakati Towers had acquired in 1999 in a deal with George Namundjebo and his sister Evelyn.Upon investigation, he was astounded to discover that the property had indeed been transferred on 16 December 2004 to Dirk’s Executive Properties – in spite of no resolution for the sale of the property ever having been passed by the company’s board or the company receiving the proceeds of such a sale, Stritter related.O&L’s property division and its directors owned 2 000 out of 3 000 shares issued in Oshakati Tower, while George Namundjebo held one share and his sister 999, Stritter explained. As a director and nominated shareholder, he knew that no meeting was ever held in which such a sale was ever discussed, Stritter said. While Namundjebo had never paid for his shares as previously agreed, he was still a director – which status he then sought to exploit by using false minutes of a board meeting purportedly held on 8 December 2004 in which Namundjebo was accorded both powers of attorney and a mandate to sell Erf 1314 to Dirk, documents submitted in court showed.Judge Muller found that this was all common cause, as was the fact that Namundjebo had instructed a conveyancer at law firm LorentzAngula Inc to pay N$4,14 million of the N$4,2 million that Executive Properties paid for the property into one of his own bank accounts.Namundjebo’s inexplicable failure to explain his action either by an affidavit or giving evidence – after in fact being ordered to do so – proved to be a fatal flaw for the respondents’ arguments, the Judge found.’The fact that [George Namundjebo], who is the only person who could have assisted the Court in this regard, failed to deal with these allegations at all, placed both [Dirk and FNB] in an invidious situation,’ Judge Muller stated.Declaring the purported sales agreement between Oshakati tower and Executive Properties to be invalid, Judge Muller stated: ‘It [the sales agreement] was not only unlawful, but there was never any authority bestowed upon [Namundjebo] to ‘sell’ the property, nor had [Oshakati Tower] any intention to ‘sell’ the property.’Judge Muller’s most serious words were however saved for Namundjebo. Very serious allegations, ‘namely of falsification and/or forgery of documents’ were made in Stritter’s affidavit with regard to Namundjebo’s conduct.’These allegations were not challenged, but that does not exclude the possibility that crimes might have been committed. What is further of concern, is that a large amount, in excess of N$4 million, is involved,’ the Judge stated.While the Court did not want to express itself on any possible offence, it would be remiss of him to ignore allegations made in incriminating sworn statements before the court, Judge Muller wrote.’The matter will consequently be referred to the proper authority, namely the Office of the Prosecutor General to peruse the documents and to conduct an investigation to determine whether any offences might have been committed, or not,’ the Judge stated.George Namundjebo, who with his siblings became instant millionaires when their late father Eliakim Namundjebo left them a N$34 million fortune in the early 1990s, could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587