Staff Reporter
THE former Managing Director of the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), Immanuel Mulunga, who finds himself in a whirlwind of accusations of fraud and corruption, has said that there was no misrepresentation when Namcor purchased nine service stations from Enercon Namibia, as some of its fuel had ended up being supplied to the tanks of said service stations.
Mulunga is accused of corruptly using his position in the public entity Namcor by making a commercial offer to Enercon to benefit himself and other persons and entities, and that he did so without board approval. This is said to have led to Enercon being paid N$53 million for nine service stations by Namcor, which was deemed fraudulent as the said service stations were already encumbered under a nine-year agreement between Enercon and the Ministry of Defence. Enercon would have to return ownership of the said assets to the Defence Ministry after 2031, and therefore had no right to sell them without authorisation from the ministry.
Part of the N$53 million was allegedly later channelled to former Namcor finance executive Jennifer Hamukwaya, logistics manager Cornelius Willemse, downstream commercial manager Olivia Dunaiski, Panduleni Hamukwaya (the husband of Jennifer), and Victor Malima and/or Austin Elindi, owners of Eco Trading and Erongo Petroleum.
Mulunga, however, denied receiving any gratification for himself or inducing any of his subordinates into fraudulently approving a sham deal.
Mulunga added that there was no criminal prosecution if there had been a breach in signing the N$53 million service station contract, and that he had signed the agreement as the MD of Namcor Trading and Distribution, and that the contract would be for the benefit of both parties.
“Namcor would benefit as they would acquire assets and use those assets to supply fuel for Enercon for 10 years with a minimum of 700,000 litres of fuel. They would get a payback on the investment in four years, and that it was also beneficial,” Mulunga said.
Mulunga further said that he is currently unemployed and only survives on the pension from his Namcor salary, and that he would be willing to pay a bail amount of N$10,000.
He added that the agreement was entered into as Namcor required bulk storage facilities—huge tanks—to supply fuel to a customer. “This would create an investment into storage facilities where the customer’s fuel is stored. This is what Enercon did. And this is what Namcor or any other fuel supplier did. This fuel supply agreement related to the purchase of assets is not unique,” Mulunga said.
He added that Namcor had conducted a similar agreement in 2010/11.
“Namcor won a tender to supply heavy fuel oil to Langer Heinrich mine. Namcor then had to build storage facilities on the mine to ensure the mine had enough fuel to operate and generate electricity. Those assets, depending on the terms of the contract, Namcor would recoup the N$90 million which they spent to build the tanks. And if recoupment was not possible, Namcor could sell it to a new supplier,” Mulunga said, adding that this was an industry practice and nothing unique.
