Kapia keeps up denial

Paulus Kapia, the former leader of the Swapo Party Youth League, is still denying that he influenced the management of the Social Security Commission (SSC) to invest N$30 million with Avid, in which Swapo had shares.Kapia, who was also a member of the National Assembly on a Swapo ticket, served as a Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication. He told the High Court yesterday that during a meeting with the SSC managers he emphasised that they should not invest their money with Avid if they felt uncomfortable.“I told them that if Avid did not meet their investment requirement they should not continue with their investment and that they must stick to their procedures,” Kapia said.Judge Christie Liebenberg also accepted that the issue was raised with the State witnesses, who included the SSC’s general manager of finance and administration, Avril Green, and its manager of corporate finance, Gideon Mulder.Kapia and Inez //Gases, who is expected to testify next, are charged together with Otniel Podewiltz, the couple Sharon and Ralph Blaauw, Brigadier Mathias Shiweda and Nico Josea.They are all facing a count of fraud, alternatively theft, and a host of charges of reckless or fraudulent conduct of business in contravention of the Companies Act of 1973 – that was repealed and replaced with a new Act in 2010.Josea alone is charged with a count of theft.Earlier in the trial, the seven denied guilt and requested that all charges against them be dropped for lack of evidence. Judge Liebenberg rejected the application.Kapia, under cross-examination from Petrie Theron, who is now appearing for Inez //Gases, continued denying that Avid passed a resolution in November 2004 authorising the late Lazarus Kandara to become a signatory of the company’s cheques and entrusting him with the investment of the SSC money in Avid.//Gases had dumped her previous defence counsel, Werner Boesak, just days after he cross-examined Kapia.Kapia further maintained that he handed over on 20 January 2005 a list of shareholders, which included the SPYL and community trust members, to the management of the SSC. He denied that there was a prior meeting in his office compiling the list of shareholders as requested by the SCC.“There were also other shareholders other than the SPYL and the community trust,” he said.He added that Kandara was never involved in Avid as a CEO or a shareholder but that he mentioned to the SSC that Kandara only advised the directors of Avid. FRED GOEIEMAN

Kapia keeps up denial

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Namibian Sun 2026-04-27

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Kapia keeps up denial

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Namibian Sun 2026-04-27

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