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The state will be appealing against the judgement in which former National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) manager Cedric Willemse was granted bail after three and a half months in custody. “We are preparing our notice to appeal,” prosecutor general Martha Imalwa said yesterday, confirming that the state plans to appeal against the bail ruling that magistrate Olga Muharukua delivered in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Muharukua’s ruling ended with Willemse (52), who was arrested on 8 July, being granted bail in an amount of N$200 000. Willemse was granted bail on condition that he should report between 08h00 and 09h00 and between 18h00 and 19h00 every day from Monday to Friday at Okahandja Police Station, which is the nearest police station to his farm in the Okahandja area. The magistrate also ordered that Willemse should surrender all of his passports or travel documents to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) or Namibian Police, and may not apply for any new travel documents until the criminal case in which he is charged has been concluded. Copies of Willemse’s passport and identity document should be distributed to all Namibian border points, and he should reside at a fixed, confirmed address in the Okahandja district after his release and may not leave the district without written authorisation of the ACC officer investigating his case, Muharukua added. She further directed that Willemse may not in any way interfere with state witnesses or potential state witnesses or tamper with evidence in his case. Willemse is facing 10 charges in connection with alleged fraud and corruption at Namcor, where he was employed as the state-owned fuel company’s supply and logistics manager. The charges against him include counts of fraud, corruptly using an office or position for gratification, corruptly accepting gratification, money laundering and failing to pay tax. The charges include an allegation that Willemse received N$3.01 million from the fuel company Enercon Namibia, which was a client of the Namcor subsidiary Namcor Petroleum Trading and Distribution, in return for authorising the supply of fuel to Enercon above the company’s credit limit with Namcor. The charges also include an allegation that Willemse received a payment of N$1.04 million in July 2022 for facilitating the sale of nine filling stations at Namibian Defence Force bases by Enercon to Namcor. Namcor paid N$53.2 million for the filling station assets. During his bail hearing, Willemse told the court that money paid to him was for meat he had sold from his farm and for logistics services provided by a close corporation of which he is a member. Willemse also said he has evidence like invoices on a laptop computer to which he does not have access as it has been seized by the ACC, and that he cannot get access to other evidence to back up his explanation for the payments because it is stored in boxes at his farm in the Okahandja area. Muharukua said in her bail ruling that the court had no choice but to believe that Willemse may have proof of the purpose of payments made to him. “The court is of the opinion that at this stage the accused [Willemse] has a plausible explanation for the money paid into his account that weakens the strength of the state’s case,” she remarked. She added that while the evidence before the court warrants sufficient cause for suspicion and investigations, the court was not satisfied that Willemse is unlikely to successfully present a defence to the charges he is facing, with the result that the charges are unlikely to prompt him to flee if released on bail. Defence lawyer Boris Isaacks, assisted by Braam Cupido and Johanna Iipinge, represented Willemse during the bail hearing. Public prosecutor Basson Lilungwe represented the state.
