Staff Reporter
THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigator in the ongoing Namcor fraud and corruption case, Oberty Inambao, today took the stand and testified that investigations in the matter were started in February 2024 after an anonymous tip that one of the accused, Cedric Willemse (52), had been depositing large sums of money into his bank account.
Inambao initially joined the ACC in 2009 and then transferred to Standard Bank as head of forensic investigations before returning to the ACC in 2020 as a Chief Investigating Officer. He was assigned as the lead investigator in the Namcor matter, where it is alleged that over N$400 million was lost by the state petroleum entity after internal controls were breached by former employees via bogus asset purchase deals and exceeding credit limits in exchange for alleged bribes.
“It all started on 7 February 2024, when I was assigned to investigate an anonymous complaint reported to ACC. Your worship, it was anonymously reported that accused number two, Cedric Willemse, may have been implicated in corrupt practices. It was reported that accused number two had large sums of cash he would deposit into his bank account. As a result, I was assigned as the investigating officer to the investigation. ACC received a case docket Windhoek CR/379/04/2024. This is a case referred from the Namibian Police Force. Ironically, accused number two was listed as a suspect in that matter. Your worship, there were two main allegations in that docket. The first was that Namcor staff members, namely Cedric Willemse, Jennifer Hamukwaya, and Olivia Dunaiski, had corruptly, unprocedurally, and without following Namcor’s policies and procedures, supplied petroleum products to Enercon Namibia Pty Ltd and Erongo Petroleum CC,” Inambao said.
He added that this fuel was supplied illicitly between 1 August 2022 and 4 May 2023 and was valued at N$277 million.
He further said that the second allegation was that Immanuel Mulunga, the former Managing Director, had corruptly and fraudulently abused his office and position as MD of Namcor by entering into an asset agreement with Enercon Namibia Pty Ltd on 18 July 2022.
This, Inambao alleged, was done without following internal policies such as the financial and procurement procedures and the budget policy.
“He attempted to acquire assets—fuel storage facilities—from Enercon to the value of N$53 million. The complainant in the case was a certain Engelhardt Kongoro, a Namcor board member and the chairperson of the audit and finance committee, which was a board of Namcor,” Inambao said.
Inambao said that the complaint was reported after internal investigations were conducted by Namcor and that this asset purchase was not known to the board.
THE TIP OFF: The man who allegedly led to the ACC starting investigations, Cedric Willemse, after lifestyle changes such as huge bank deposits. Photo: Contributed
