Martin Endjala
National Petroleum Corporation (Namcor) has denied that suspects who were recently arrested for the theft of fuel valued at N$1 million are in its employ.
Namcor’s Marketing, Communications and Publication Relations Manager Paulo Coelho, while giving an update on the matter last week, said Namcor has been informed that there have been additional arrests, however, the arrested individuals are not associated with the company.
“We’re aware of the ongoing investigation by the Namibian Police. However, at this stage, we have no information that implicates any Namcor employees. It is our policy not to comment on ongoing investigations to ensure their integrity,” said Coelho.
He reiterated that Namcor is fully cooperating with the Police in their investigation and the company is committed to giving updates as developments occur.
The Namibian Newspaper reported that among the arrested persons are Denzel Mulunga (21) a nephew to the suspended Namcor Managing Director Immanuel Mulunga, Simeon Shilongo (38), Jason Malima (26) and Graham Platt (46).
They were arrested between February and March this year and each faces charges of theft, money laundering and conspiracy to commit theft.
The four are reported to be linked to a syndicate that has been extorting fuel from the company between December 2023 and January 2024.
The four suspects appeared in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court last week to apply for bail, and the case has been postponed to 28 March 2024.
In February 2024 the company discovered an incident where fuel worth more than N$1 million was stolen from the National Oil Storage Facility at Walvis Bay.
The discrepancy was discovered with the loading of 39,993 litres of 50 ppm diesel in December 2023 and 39,891 litres of the same product in January 2024.
Despite loading documents suggesting that the two loads were destined for a customer’s site, there is no evidence of the product having arrived or received by the bulk fuel customer.
As a result, the state-owned entity conducted an extensive internal investigation into the theft. The company then proceeded with opening a case of theft with the Walvis Bay Police and is collaborating closely with the regional law enforcement authorities to resolve the matter.
According to Namcor’s findings, the interesting development with a bearing on the matter is the timing of the resignation of the truck driver who transported the two loads.
The driver worked for one of the companies contracted by NAMCOR to transport fuel on its behalf and resigned in February 2024.
The National Petroleum Corporation country’s national fuel storage facility which commenced in 2015 under the Mines and Energy Ministry, is valued at an estimated N$5.5 billion.
It consists of a tanker jetty multiple product pipelines and a terminal with a capacity of 75 million litres of combined petroleum products.
