By Timo Shihepo
12 August 2024
The dismissed managing director of the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), Immanuel Mulunga, is claiming his dismissal was unfair and illegal.
Speaking to The Namibian on Sunday, Mulunga said the state-owned company’s decision to dismiss him is unprecedented.
“We are going to respond. It’s unheard of. It was clearly premeditated in the event I was going to be found not guilty,” he said.
Mulunga was dismissed on Thursday last week, less than 48 hours after retired judge Gerhard Maritz, who chaired a disciplinary hearing on charges against Mulunga, found him not guilty on all charges.
The Namcor board of directors accused Mulunga of fraud by failing to disclose crucial information to the directors and a breach of trust in his working relationship with the board.
The case was related to Mulunga paying US$6,7 million (about N$123 million) to a United Kingdom-registered company involved in a joint venture with Namcor in an oil exploration and extraction project in Angola.
Mulunga accused the board of abusing its power and office.
“How do you just charge someone and not give them an opportunity to defend himself and just go ahead and find them guilty? It’s laughable,” he said.
Mulunga was referring to charges related to a payment of N$53 million by Namcor to the military contractor Enercon.
That payment ultimately ended Mulunga’s nine-year tenure as Namcor’s managing director.
“On 8 July 2022, you approved a recommendation from Olivia Dunaiski for Namcor to take over assets of Enercon, at the cost of N$53 million, in circumstances you knew or ought to have known or negligently failed to establish that it had not been established whether Enercon was the lawful owner of the said assets,” it was stated in the letter informing Mulunga of his dismissal.
Dunaiski is a former commercial manager at Namcor and is now employed by Erongo Petroleum, a company that Namcor wants to liquidate over unpaid debt.
It is alleged that Enercon pretended to be selling facilities which it never owned, in addition to an oil supply contract.
“The price indicated for the purchase of the assets of N$53 million exceeded your level of authority. You did not inform the board of directors of Namcor of the purchase of the assets,” the termination letter states as well.
