Huang's N$3 Billion Fraud Trial Commences in Windhoek High Court

Iuze Mukube The trial of the Chinese businessman and others, accused of defrauding the finance ministry of over N$3 billion in revenue, commenced with the tendering of their pleas in the Windhoek High Court yesterday. The accused are Namibian national Julius Laurensius and Chinese nationals Huang, Tao Huizhong, Zhihua Gao, Hong Ying Jia, Cao Shuhua, Li Dan, Ying Zhang, and seven other entities. The group faces over 1 500 charges, comprising fraud, theft, money laundering and tax evasion or presenting false documents and making false declarations. Appearing before Judge Eileen Rakow yesterday, all the accused tendered pleas of not guilty in a plea and trial proceeding at court. Lawyer Sisa Namandje, representing Huizhong, Huang, Shuhua, Dan, Zhang and three other entities, submitted his client’s pleas and explanation on their behalf. The five Chinese nationals, in amplification of their plea, denied committing the offences alleged against them. Huizhong, the first accused, stated that he was not a party, and was not aware of any criminal activities alleged by the State and denied committing the offences described in various counts. Meanwhile, Huang stated that he was not part of the entity implicated in the matter, as he had resigned at the time in October 2012, way before 2013 to 2015, when the State alleges the criminal activities commenced at Golden Phoenix Enterprises CC. He added that he appears to have been solely charged for being a member of Golden Phoenix and that there is no evidence by the State that he committed the offences. Additionally, Huang stated that he was not privy to any alleged remittance of foreign currency or declaration by the company Golden Phoenix, which is represented by Huizhong. Shuhua denied involvement in the criminal activities, and the accused stated that the State will have to convince the court that it was legally appropriate to charge Shuhua as a representative of Nam-Dam Import & Export CC when the accused was only a member until 2015. Dan and Zhang also denied committing any offences alleged by the State, either individually or jointly with any of the accused persons. Senior counsel Barry Roux and James Diedericks represented Laurensius and two of his entities. The accused pleaded not guilty and tendered a plea explanation denying any commission of the offences alleged against him. Lawyer Mel Harmse, representing Gao and Ying Jia and their entities, Trust Investments CC and Jia Mu Trading CC, also pleaded not guilty. The two denied having made payments to Laurensius. The accused all placed the onus on the State to prove all allegations levelled against them. The matter stems from the State’s allegation that the accused were responsible for the finance ministry losing a significant amount because of understating the worth of the products brought into Namibia, for which customs taxes were due. Further investigations, particularly by the Bank of Namibia, revealed that Namibia was losing significant sums of foreign currency, and that N$3.5 billion was being shipped out of the country through Laurensius’ Extreme Customs Clearing Services. Investigators allegedly discovered that goods were over-declared at the bank and under-declared at customs, costing Namibia billions of dollars in losses. The evidence showed that the amount allegedly paid to foreign recipients did not match the amount on the invoices, and there was a significant discrepancy between the amount presented at the bank for deposit and that shown at customs for clearance. Accordingly, it is said that a sizeable sum had been transferred to offshore accounts via a local bank. All the accused, who are mostly out on bail, are expected to make an appearance tomorrow at court for the continuation of the trial. The State is represented by Henry Muhongo.