Vilho ducks N$200 million questions

KENYA KAMBOWERUNDUDefence minister Peter Vilho says he will not respond to accusations of corruption in the absence of any evidence.The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement has accused the retired army general of lining his pockets at the expense of the defence ministry.AR leader Job Amupanda claimed Vilho sanctioned a N$200 million transfer from the defence ministry to its commercial arm, the August 26 Holding Company, in 2017 without treasury approval.Amupanda claimed to be in possession of a report in which the transaction is listed, which he refused to share with Namibian Sun.According to Amupanda, the report states that the defence ministry bought naval ships and military uniforms from Brazilian companies at inflated prices and without following tender procedures, during Vilho's term as executive director. In response, Vilho said if this report was an official one from the auditor-general, the current executive director should be able to respond to that.“Whatever I did during my tenure as executive director was not in my personal capacity.“It will be very helpful if you can ask those making the allegations to give you a copy of the report; or even the page number and year of the audit report. Then we can continue with the topic,” Vilho said. 'No transfer'Calle Schlettwein, the minister of finance when the alleged transfer took place, this week told Namibian Sun that he was unaware of such a treasury transfer.“I tried to establish [the facts] and there was no payment to August 26 [from the finance ministry]; there was also no budget for August 26. There was no money provided in the budget to be paid to August 26 from Finance. Whether the defence ministry paid it, that I do not know,” Schlettwein said. Brazilian connectionsThe allegations against Vilho also focus on his ties to Brazil, where he spent almost half a decade receiving military training.He is accused of having used his former position as Navy commander, and later as the ministry's executive director, to force the ministry to purchase navy uniforms from that country. SecrecyAuditor-general Junias Kandjeke has over the years complained that his work is adversely affected by the defence ministry's reluctance to share its financial reports for auditing.Army generals who spoke to Namibian Sun maintained that the ministry's books should be kept secret in the interest of national security.“We must protect some of this information because it is very sensitive, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. “Some of these officials from the Office of the Auditor-General are not even vetted by intelligence (the Namibian Central Intelligence Service). How could we trust them with such classified information,” said a general who preferred anonymity.Critics, on the other hand, accuse the ministry of using national security as an excuse to conceal corrupt activities. Bring it onAmupanda this week told Namibian Sun that he was not afraid of any action Vilho might take against him because of the allegations.He said if Vilho dragged him to court it would be “an opportunity to hold [him] to account because has been bullying generals and everyone”. “Whether he comes to me physically, goes to court, runs to Geingob or to Jesus, there is nothing that he can do to me,” the politician said.“He will not be the first minister I deal with. I dealt with Penda ya Ndakolo, who was also behaving the same and he ended running to pay back the money of defence.“He is not the first minister of defence that is corrupt that I am facing and defeating,” the outspoken mayor of Windhoek charged.This is not the first time Amupanda has called a cabinet minister corrupt. He previously did so with former justice minister Sacky Shanghala, whom he called “the epitome and symbol of corruption in Namibia”. Shanghala is now awaiting trial on corruption charges relating to the Fishrot bribery scandal.kenya@namibiansun.com

Vilho ducks N$200 million questions

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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Vilho ducks N$200 million questions

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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