More woes for SME Bank bosses

The properties of three former SME Bank directors accused of defrauding the now-defunct bank will be auctioned next week, as liquidators fight to recoup millions lost from the institution.

According to sources close to liquidators David Bruni and Ian McLaren, several luxury houses in Windhoek’s affluent suburbs belonging to Tawanda Mumvuma, Enock Kamushinda and Chiedza Goromonzi are set to go under the hammer.

The auction has been confirmed by notices placed in local newspapers.

The trio's fall from grace in the Namibian banking sector continues to haunt them after failing to keep their end of a January 2021 settlement agreement which compelled them repay over N$140 million.

Consequently, the liquidators secured a letter of execution for the seizure of their assets and to sell them on auction.

Kamushinda, former deputy chairperson of the SME board, and two of his companies are three of the parties that failed to comply with the stipulations of the settlement agreement.

The bank’s CEO at the time of its closure, Mumvuma, and Goromonzi, who was an assistant in the financial department, also failed to honour the payment terms.

Auction

The properties, which are expected to be auctioned off on Thursday, 17 August, are situated in Kleine Kuppe, Eros and the posh Windhoek Golf Estate, next to Windhoek Country Club Resort.

The first auction is expected to take place at 10:00 on the property premises - number 32 Windhoek Golf Estate - while 27 Blinkpan Street, Kleine Kuppe, will go under the hammer at noon. This home was formerly operated as a guesthouse.

The last property, situated at 14 Werthsingel Street in Eros, will be auctioned at 15:00 that day.

Life imitates art

Mumvuma, who was at the helm of the beleaguered SME Bank and blamed for its subsequent collapse, was a man close to God – but it was not all psalms and praise.

As fate would have it, his book collection included titles like ‘Fasting: Opening the Door to a Deeper, More Intimate, More Powerful Relationship with God’ and ‘Money Laundering Affects Us All’.

Coincidentally, Mumvuma and his cronies were accused of money laundering and having committed ‘grand fraud’ that led to the bank’s demise.

In what seemed to be a case of life imitating art, the bank was officially liquidated by the High Court on 15 September 2017, a Friday - resembling another book Mumvuma was keen on, eerily titled ‘Every Day a Friday’.

According to court documents, the books were seized by the liquidators, along with other assets during the winding-up of the bank.

The bank’s closure meant that approximately N$200 million in depositors’ funds went down the drain.

Mumvuma, described as a manager with his eyes on the prize who was praised for working tirelessly to meet targets, is now an economic fugitive outside Namibia where his alleged scheme left many unemployed and hordes of small businesses out in the cold.

Banking scandal

The liquidators of the SME bank took legal steps in 2019 based on alleged fraudulent payments from the bank’s accounts to several beneficiaries.

These payments formed part of large-scale theft and money laundering that ultimately caused the collapse.

Bruni and McLaren, in their investigations, found an alleged plan cooked by individuals who gave directives for monies to be paid into bank accounts created for the sole purpose of cash withdrawals and false credits.

A settlement agreement was also sealed in July between the liquidators and Joseph Banda, a Zimbabwean national who worked as the financial manager at the beleaguered SME bank.

The matter continues against yet another Zimbabwean national, Lyndon Giadzanwa, who stands accused of having defrauded the bank of N$30 million.