Staff Reporter
ERONGO Petroleum, the company which faces liquidation due to a debt of N$266 million it owes to the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), states that the application to liquidate it is a nullity, as Namcor has no legal standing to bring forth a liquidation application on behalf of its subsidiary company, Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution (Proprietary) Limited.
Erongo Petroleum CC is owned by businessman Austin Elindi, who is also a shareholder in the controversial military fuel supply entity, Enercon.
Austin Elindi is the son of Peter Elindi, who also faces court action from Namcor for his entity Enercon owing the state-owned enterprise over N$114 million, as well as being implicated in a fraud case whereby his entity was paid N$53 million for selling fuel storage facilities to Namcor. It was, however, later discovered that the storage facilities already belonged to the government, namely the Ministry of Defence.
The Elindi brothers owned 75% of Enercon Namibia, while the military, through its business arm August 26 Holdings, owned the remaining 25%.
In the Erongo Petroleum matter, the legal representative, Advocate Tinashe Chibwana, argued that they submit that on the undisputed facts, the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Pty) Ltd is the holding company for the applicant, namely Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution (Proprietary) Limited.
“The question at this stage is a legal question, and it is this: can a holding company authorise the institution of legal proceedings on behalf of a subsidiary?” Adv. Chibwana posed, adding that a holding company is a distinct and separate legal persona from its subsidiary.
“We submit that the institution of the application was premised on a nullity, which could not be ratified because there was nothing to ratify. We further submit that, in any event, the applicant did not subsequently retrospectively ratify the actions by the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Pty) Ltd. The applicant authorised acts that would take place prospectively,” Adv. Chibwana said, adding that the liquidation application should be dismissed with costs.
