Amushelelo owes NamRA N$15 million

After losing seven luxury cars and about N$13 million in cash found in his bank accounts through forfeiture to the state on Friday, it has also emerged that erstwhile forex trader Michael Amushelelo also owes the taxman N$15.2 million.

State revenues are currently collected by the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA).

Prosector General Martha Imalwa succeeded in her forfeiture application against Amushelelo, meaning the assets of Amushelelo and his business partner Gregory Cloete, which had previously been confiscated, can now become state property.

It was revealed during the court application that Amushelelo received about N$87 million in his bank accounts from those who invested in his forex trading business. Of this, about N$65 million was reportedly paid out to investors.

In July 2020, Amushelelo and his various entities allegedly had a combined positive balance of N$13.2 million, but to sustain the scam, an amount of approximately N$130 million was needed to repay its investors with the promised 50% interest.

In addition, Imalwa argued that over the years, Amushelelo had not declared his income to the receiver of revenue and therefore owed income tax of about N$15.2 million. NamRA is responsible for state revenue collections, mainly through taxes.

Imalwa argued that the assets – consisting of seven luxury vehicles and money in 13 bank accounts – should be forfeited to the state because they were believed to be the proceeds of illegal activities.

The illegal activities relate to alleged fraud, money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion.

Apart from this application brought by Imalwa under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca), Amushelelo and Cloete are entangled in a separate criminal trial in connection with the alleged fraudulent forex trade scheme they believe to have operated in 2018 and 2019.

Alleged fraud

Imalwa alleges that Amushelelo made false representations to mislead members of the public into paying him their hard-earned money on the false pretence that they would receive favourable interest on their investments in the foreign exchange market.

Amushelelo is believed to have encouraged members of the public through Project One Million to invest money in Global Growth and/or Amushe International, which he would then re-invest in the foreign exchange market.

Amushelelo allegedly used his social media profiles to lead members of the public to believe that his lavish lifestyle was financed by investments in the forex market.

"On the basis of these misrepresentations, he and his entities received millions of Namibian dollars and did not reinvest the money in the forex market. The money returned to investors consisted of the money paid by other members of the public as investments. This means that his later investors' money was used to pay the earlier investors," Imalwa said in court papers.

She further claimed that the vehicles – consisting of two BMWs, two Audis, two Mercedes Benz's and one Range Rover – and the money [N$13 million] included in the application were bought with this money and used to maintain Amushelelo's flashy lifestyle at the expense of the persons who invested money with him.

Faulty order

Amushelelo argued that the initial order for the seizure and freezing of the relevant assets was obtained in contravention of a court order and that the application for forfeiture should be dismissed on that basis. Presiding High Court judge Thomas Masuku dismissed that claim.

In Masuku's ruling, he pointed out that Amushelelo simply denied the allegations against him and argued that Imalwa had no evidence of the alleged offences.

“I am of the opinion that the respondents, instead of noticeably countering this allegation, simply recorded denials. In my view, the applicant [Imalwa] did not merely allege, but her statements were based on information placed before the court together with supporting documents," Masuku said in his ruling.

Final verdict immaterial

In his ruling, Masuku pointed out that Imalwa and her legal team did not have to prove in this application that Amushelelo was guilty of all the charges against him, but had to prove that, on a balance of probabilities, he committed at least one of the offences.

“Proof on a balance of probabilities means that the party trying to prove it must convince the court that their allegation is probably true. This means the judge must be satisfied that there is a greater than 50% chance that the allegations are true," Masuku explained in his ruling.

"The court is satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the properties were part of a crime or proceeds of illegal activity," he said before issuing the court order.

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