Kapia begs for leniency
Former works deputy minister Paulus Kapia claims that the Avid fraud trial has cost him more than N$3 million and led to his fall from grace as a politician.
FRED GOEIEMAN
Former Swapo Party Youth League leader and works deputy minister Paulus Kapia has begged for mercy ahead of his sentencing in the Avid/Social Security Commission saga in the Windhoek High Court.
Defence lawyer Sisa Namandje yesterday asked Judge Christie Liebenberg to give his client a suspended sentence and not a jail term.
Kapia and four others are currently presenting arguments in mitigation of sentencing following their conviction last month.
Judge Liebenberg found Kapia, Inez /Gâses and Ralph Blaauw guilty of fraud, while one of the kingpins in the matter, Nico Josea, was found guilty of theft by conversion.
Blaauw’s wife, Sharon, was found guilty of reckless conduct of business.
Former NDF Brigadier Mathias Shiweda and former Avid director Otniel Podewiltz were acquitted.
The mitigation arguments started yesterday and Kapia, who is the first accused in the matter, said via his lawyer that he had paid dearly for his involvement in the case.
The former member of parliament was accused of using his political clout to influence the SSC to invest N$30 million with a newly established investment company, Avid Investments, in 2005. Kapia was a director of Avid when the investment was made by the SSC.
Shortly after that, N$29.5 million of the SSC money was transferred to Namangol Investments, owned and run by Josea.
Namandje said yesterday that Kapia had no intention to cause a loss to the SSC. He also described how Kapia had fallen from grace politically.
Kapia was forced to resign as deputy minister in August 2005. “It was a big, bad political fall,” Namandje said.
“He lost that position to which he was appointed a few months before and subsequently his house in Pionierspark, after he resigned from his position.”
Kapia was born in northern Namibia in 1967 and went into exile in 1988. In Angola he was trained by the Swapo military wing, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan). He returned to Namibia in 1989, shortly before the country’s independence.
He later served as SPYL secretary and as chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and security. He was also appointed as head of the then National Security Commission.
“He was a person who sat on your National Security Commission, which is a critical institution for the security of the country, including against criminal activities,” Namandje said.
He added that society was able tolerate Kapia because he had served the nation. According to Namandje, there was no evidence that his client had committed any similar offenses relating to fraud in the past 13 years.
He added Kapia was a first-time offender who had expressed remorse and was saddened by the disappearance of the money.
“Intent was totally absent,” he added.
He argued against retribution as a factor, saying the court should not take it into consideration when sentencing Kapia.
“Retribution should not play a role… The court has the discretion to come up with a balanced and appropriate sentence,” he argued.
According to him the crime of which his client was convicted was not premeditated, planned or sophisticated.
Namandje told the court that he had been practising as lawyer for only two years when the Avid/SSC trial started and he appeared on behalf of Kapia.
The mitigation arguments for /Gâses, the Blaauw couple and Josea are set to continue today.
Former Swapo Party Youth League leader and works deputy minister Paulus Kapia has begged for mercy ahead of his sentencing in the Avid/Social Security Commission saga in the Windhoek High Court.
Defence lawyer Sisa Namandje yesterday asked Judge Christie Liebenberg to give his client a suspended sentence and not a jail term.
Kapia and four others are currently presenting arguments in mitigation of sentencing following their conviction last month.
Judge Liebenberg found Kapia, Inez /Gâses and Ralph Blaauw guilty of fraud, while one of the kingpins in the matter, Nico Josea, was found guilty of theft by conversion.
Blaauw’s wife, Sharon, was found guilty of reckless conduct of business.
Former NDF Brigadier Mathias Shiweda and former Avid director Otniel Podewiltz were acquitted.
The mitigation arguments started yesterday and Kapia, who is the first accused in the matter, said via his lawyer that he had paid dearly for his involvement in the case.
The former member of parliament was accused of using his political clout to influence the SSC to invest N$30 million with a newly established investment company, Avid Investments, in 2005. Kapia was a director of Avid when the investment was made by the SSC.
Shortly after that, N$29.5 million of the SSC money was transferred to Namangol Investments, owned and run by Josea.
Namandje said yesterday that Kapia had no intention to cause a loss to the SSC. He also described how Kapia had fallen from grace politically.
Kapia was forced to resign as deputy minister in August 2005. “It was a big, bad political fall,” Namandje said.
“He lost that position to which he was appointed a few months before and subsequently his house in Pionierspark, after he resigned from his position.”
Kapia was born in northern Namibia in 1967 and went into exile in 1988. In Angola he was trained by the Swapo military wing, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan). He returned to Namibia in 1989, shortly before the country’s independence.
He later served as SPYL secretary and as chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and security. He was also appointed as head of the then National Security Commission.
“He was a person who sat on your National Security Commission, which is a critical institution for the security of the country, including against criminal activities,” Namandje said.
He added that society was able tolerate Kapia because he had served the nation. According to Namandje, there was no evidence that his client had committed any similar offenses relating to fraud in the past 13 years.
He added Kapia was a first-time offender who had expressed remorse and was saddened by the disappearance of the money.
“Intent was totally absent,” he added.
He argued against retribution as a factor, saying the court should not take it into consideration when sentencing Kapia.
“Retribution should not play a role… The court has the discretion to come up with a balanced and appropriate sentence,” he argued.
According to him the crime of which his client was convicted was not premeditated, planned or sophisticated.
Namandje told the court that he had been practising as lawyer for only two years when the Avid/SSC trial started and he appeared on behalf of Kapia.
The mitigation arguments for /Gâses, the Blaauw couple and Josea are set to continue today.
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