Namdia denies claims
Zorena Jantze
UNITED People’s Movement (UPM) Secretary General Celeste Becker has accused the Namibia Desert Diamonds (Pty) Ltd company of failing to act on a forensic audit report conducted by Deloitte, which allegedly recommended criminal charges for top management who allegedly orchestrated irregularities that led to the January 2025 heist, in which diamonds worth over N$300 million were stolen.
Becker has called for a halt in the new sale of diamonds until irregularities identified by Deloitte are addressed. The politician questioned why only one official is responsible for both parcel selection and pricing and questioned a deal wherein Levintal, the registered client who acted as the “face” through which Penford, an unregistered buyer, accessed Namdia’s diamond viewings and purchases.
“The recent Deloitte forensic audit, conducted after the heist, did not clear Namdia’s leadership — it confirmed what earlier audits had already shown. For at least two consecutive years before the heist, Deloitte’s audits of Namdia had already failed, flagging internal control breakdowns, governance weaknesses, and irregularities linked to Lelly Usiku (interim Chief Executive Officer) and Andreas Eiseb, Key Accounts Manager of Namdia — the same gaps that ultimately led to the heist,” Becker claimed.
She added that despite this, Namdia’s management and Board took no corrective action, and Deloitte did not escalate the matter to the Auditor General or law enforcement, as required under the Public Accountants and Auditors Act.
“By failing to alert the Auditor General or the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Deloitte’s silence became participation,” Becker claimed.
Deloitte Namibia Country Manager, Melanie Harrison, confirmed that Deloitte has been outsourced to conduct internal auditing for Namdia for some time now. Harrison, however, said allegations by Becker that the forensic audit report pointed to Usiku and Eiseb are factually incorrect and added that the audit focused on the scope of activities related to three individuals who were placed on suspension after the heist. The Namdia Board earlier this year announced the suspension of former CEO Alisa Amupolo, Chief Operations Officer Uahoroka Kauta, and Security Manager Paulinus Sheyapo.
Harrison, however, declined to go into the findings of the forensic audit due to a confidentiality clause.
She added that as an internal auditor, Deloitte’s key responsibility is to report to the Board, which is charged with governance issues and is not required to report its findings to the Auditor General or law enforcement. This, she said, is a different case for external auditors, who are under certain circumstances obliged to report findings to appropriate external regulatory bodies or law enforcement as catered for under the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board (PAAB) Act.
“Deloitte (as internal auditor) has no authority to report the matters to the AG and/or law enforcement, and doing so would be a breach of its terms of engagement with Namdia,” Harrison said.
Also commenting on the matter, Beverley Coussement, Namdia spokesperson, said that all export and sales operations are conducted under the highest standards of corporate governance, are independently audited, and are fully compliant with local and international regulatory frameworks — including oversight from independent auditors.
“To clarify, there are no outstanding statutory, audit, or compliance obligations that would warrant any interruption to exports or operations. Calls for a ‘freeze’ are not only baseless but risk distorting public understanding of a well-regulated sector that contributes significantly to national trade and employment. All sales strategies are presented to and approved by the Board, following which they are implemented at departmental level under the oversight of Executive Management. To ensure transparency, viewing notes are prepared after each viewing, and the fair market values and proposed pricing are submitted to Exco for review and ratification before every sale. Client allocations and sale proposals are submitted to Exco for ratification prior to execution. Subsequently, a comprehensive sales report is presented to Exco for discussion and endorsement,” Coussement said.
She added that the associated operational risk of sole valuation has been assessed, and it was found that segregation in terms of this responsibility should be initiated.
“The recruitment of positions within the company has been put on hold given the current financial position of Namdia. To ensure transparency as part of Namdia’s risk mitigation strategy, Namdia has advertised for an Independent Diamond Valuator to serve on an ad hoc basis, particularly during periods when diamonds need to be valuated and during the Namdia sales cycle. This process is at an advanced stage,” Coussement said.
With regard to the Levintal/Penford transaction, Coussement said that Namdia only trades and invoices directly with its registered clients and that strengthened internal controls have been put in place.
PICTURED: Celeste Becker, UPM Secretary General. Photo: File
