Amushelelo treated worse than Jack Huang – NEFF

“Jack Huang is an accused person in a N$3.5 billon criminal case. Where is he as we speak? Does he report to the Namibian police every day and how did he end up in an Angolan jail a few years back if indeed police were serious with enforcing bail conditions?”

This was the damning indictment of Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) president Epafras Mukwiilongo, in reaction to threats by the prosecutor-general’s office to arrest two members of his party for allegedly violating their bail conditions in a pending criminal matter.

He was drawing comparisons between the strict bail conditions imposed on new party members and forex traders Michael Amushelelo and Gregory Cloete, who must report three times a week at a police station, while politically connected Chinese businessman Jack Huang, whom the State described as flight risk when he was arrested in a N$3.5 billion customs fraud matter, was only asked to report once a week to the police.

Huang is politically well connected in Namibia, having been a business partner of President Hage Geingob in a property development company.

The Office of the Prosecutor-General must steer clear of politics and be careful not to be used by powerful politicians, Mukwiilongo warned.

Amushelelo, who recently joined the party, is on bail in two cases – one of culpable homicide and another one related to an alleged Ponzi scheme he was allegedly running with business partner and fellow NEFF member Cloete under the guise of foreign currency trading.

The pair allegedly received more than N$17 million from the public from February 2015 to June 2019 without being authorised to do so in terms of the Banking Institutions Act.

In a notice to their lawyer, Kadhila Amoomo, the prosecutor-general’s office issued a final warning to Amushelelo and Cloete, saying that they allegedly violated a condition of their bail, which requires them to seek prior authorisation from the investigating officer before leaving the district of Windhoek, Windhoek Observer reported on Friday.

Since joining NEFF recently, Amushelelo, who is the party’s commissar for economic development, has made trips to Otjiwarongo and Swakopmund, where he confronted employers accused of abusing their workers – including mines.

Mukwiilongo yesterday said it was ironic that the threats by the prosecutor-general only came after Amusheleo and Cloete had joined the party.

“Amushelelo failed for report at the police station once only and he had given prior notice to the police that he would not make it to the station that day. When we went to Erongo Region, we informed the police in the region that we would be arriving there, so police in general knew where he was,” he said.

“What did Amushelelo do compared to Jack Huang? The PG must not fight battles on behalf of powerful politicians who feel threatened by NEFF,” he told Namibian Sun yesterday from Elim in Omusati Region.

Chinese businessman Huang, who was arrested in 2017 on charges linked to a massive alleged customs duties and foreign currency scam involving the equivalent of about N$3.5 billion, is out on bail of N$1 million.

Reacting to the PG’s threats, Amushelelo yesterday said: “People want to silence me, but I cannot be silenced with threats of revoking bail.

“Namibia never needs a solid reason or grounds to arrest you, so whether or not they have grounds to actually do it is irrelevant.

“Namibia is slowly becoming a dictatorship, there is a clear system and there is nothing that we can do about it. What my party [NEFF] wants to do is protect the rights and livelihoods of the people,” he charged.