Staff Writer
The sole trustees of the estate of late businessman, Aaron Mushimba, and two other estates, has approached the High Court in the matter.
This is to have lawyer, Marén de Klerk, currently holed up in South Africa, removed as the executor of the vast estate. De Klerk left the country in January after being questioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and never returned. He is thus wanted by the authorities to answer for his role in the Fishrot scandal after being fingered for his role in the processing of funds, to the tune of N$50 million, from the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) through the trust account of his law firm, De Klerk, Horn and Coetzee Inc.
A trustee, Johan André Penderis, in his court fillings has argued the absence of De Klerk has made it impossible for him to execute his duties as executor of the Mushimba estate, and the two other estates. “Irrespective of the reasons for the First Respondent’s absence from Namibia, it is clear that he has not been on Namibian soil for almost six months and that, by reason thereof, he has not been able properly to execute his duties as executor. Under current legislation, the first Respondent is free to return to Namibia being a Namibian citizen, subject to undergoing 14 days in quarantine. He has however chosen not to return to Namibia,” the court papers read.
“It is most unfair to the heirs of the estates for the winding up of the estates, all to be delayed as a result of these circumstances and, as I explain later herein, there are, indeed, urgent grounds for an executor immediately to assume and execute the duties of an executor duly appointed in terms of the estate.”
De Klerk, despite having resigned as trustee of the Mushimba estate, has been accused of refusing to relinquish his position as the executor of the estate and another, E/L Penderis, despite pocketing over N$8 million for his role over the years. “The first respondent is, however, refusing to relinquish his position as executor of any of the estates, unless he gets paid additional fees in respect of both the E/L Mushimba and E/L Penderis. The fees paid to the first respondent in the E/L Mushimba amount to N$8million, and fully remunerated him for all the executor duties already performed by him in respect of the E/L Mushimba until the date of his leaving Namibia,” the court papers read.
Penderis has also accused de Klerk of underhand dealings when it came to the handling of the planned sale of Edelweiss Investments Eight to Bonsec Investments Three Six One, amid the discovery of a questionable N$4 million commission payment. Edelweiss Investments Eight is one of the companies belonging to the Mushimba estate.
“Other than for page 5, the rest of the document is a copy of the one that I had in my possession. This means that the amounts that would be paid to the trust, remained at N$25million, but that the Agent’s Commission payable was now N$4 million. This was the same exorbitant amount that I saw in the previous agreement with Bonsec. What was however different to the Bonsec agreement (which was never given to me), was that the first respondent appeared to have customized page 5 of the original agreement specifically for me, to make me believe that the purchase price was only N$27million and the Agent’s Commission only N$2million,” the court papers read.
Penderis in his court fillings notes that the trust as well as all the beneficiaries to the trust have in the meantime resolved that lawyer, Norman Tjombe, of Tjombe-Elago, be appointed as the new executor of the E/L Mushimba.
Former Justice Minister, Sacky Shangala, was also a trustee of the estate and resigned last November as a direct result of the Fishrot scandal.
