Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

Tax bribery trial shifted to 2010

Tax bribery trial shifted to 2010

THE starting date of the corruption trial of a Windhoek resident allegedly caught paying a bribe of N$40 000 to a Ministry of Finance

official has been shifted to early next year.The trial of Louisa Engels (46), who was charged under the Anti-Corruption Act of 2003 after her arrest on October 30 2007, was scheduled to start before Magistrate Dinnah Usiku in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday. The date was set at Engels’s last court appearance in September.Public Prosecutor OJ Lino however told Magistrate Usiku yesterday that it had been agreed that the case should be postponed to January 18 to 21 instead.Defence lawyer Richard Metcalfe, representing Engels, told the Magistrate that ‘some problems’ from both sides had arisen in the case. He said the biggest of these was that Engels’s file with the Receiver of Revenue had not been disclosed to the defence.It has since been indicated to the defence that the file, which is considered confidential, would be disclosed once Engels has given her consent for it to be done, Metcalfe said.Engels is accused of paying a bribe of N$40 000 to a Ministry of Finance official, Vivian de Koe, at Arebbusch Lodge in Windhoek on October 30 2007. De Koe, who is employed in the Ministry’s Directorate of Inland Revenue, was allegedly given the money in an attempt to induce him to manipulate, remove or alter amounts on tax assessments of Engels, her husband and their business, JL Thatching, it is alleged.De Koe was one of three State witnesses present at the court yesterday, only to be told to return to court on January 18.It is claimed that the Ministry of Finance was demanding that Engels, her husband and their business cough up unpaid taxes – both personal income tax and value added tax – amounting to over N$7 million when the alleged bribery attempt was made.The payment of the alleged bribe was filmed with a hidden camera, it is claimed.Engels remains free on bail of N$20 000. One of the conditions attached to her bail, which was that she had to report to the Police in Windhoek every Friday, was scrapped on request from Metcalfe yesterday. Engels’s passport should remain with the Police, the Magistrate ordered.

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News