Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The suspended managing director of the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), Immanuel Mulunga, has been cleared of all charges in a disciplinary hearing held in Windhoek.
The judgement was delivered on 7 August by the chairperson of the hearing, retired Supreme Court Justice, Gerhard Maritz.
Maritz determined that the disciplinary complaints against Mulunga were not sufficiently established.
“In the result, my determination in these disciplinary proceedings against the employee is that none of the disciplinary complaints against the employee have been established by the employer on a balance of probabilities. It follows that all the complaints against him in these proceedings are dismissed,” said Maritz.
Mulunga faced charges of fraud and breaches of his employment conditions in relation to a US$6.7 million (N$123 million) transaction involving Sungara Energies Limited.
The charges allege that Mulunga failed to disclose his intentions to the Namcor board before instructing the transfer of funds, which exceeded his signing authority.
According to court documents, the first charge of fraud accused Mulunga of withholding crucial information from Namcor’s board of directors between 8 and 17 August 2022.
The charge stated that Mulunga failed to inform the board about his intention to transfer the funds to Sungara before seeking their approval.
The allegation was that Namcor suffered potential or actual prejudice due to this omission, as the board had only approved a transfer of US$10 million, not US$16.7 million.
The second charge involved alleged breaches of employment conditions that resulted in a material breach of trust.
The allegations mirrored those of the fraud charge, focussing on Mulunga’s actions during the transfer process.
Mulunga allegedly purposefully misled the board on August 22, 2022, by claiming that the funds remained in Sungara’s account, despite his knowledge of their transfer to Sonangol, the state-owned oil company in Angola.
Mulunga also faced a third charge for a breach of confidentiality.
He allegedly leaked to the press in March 2023 confidential WhatsApp communications between himself and Namcor board chairperson Jennifer Comalie.
However, the employer dropped this charge during the hearing due to a lack of evidence.
Maritz concluded that there was no evidence to support any of the disciplinary complaints against Mulunga.
Consequently, they dismissed all the charges against him.
Mulunga’s suspension remained in place during the investigation and hearing of these charges.
It was then extended again in March this year by Namcol board vice chairperson Tim Ekandjo.
“To extend your suspension as MD until the completion of the ongoing disciplinary hearing, the finalisation of the Enercorn hearing, and the investigation into the stock losses,” read the extension letter.
Attempts to obtain a comment from Mulunga regarding the judgement and his return to work were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
