By: Kelvin Chiringa
One of the Angolans in police custody for allegedly defrauding the ministry of finance is now without legal representation and has made a startling allegation that his lawyer dumped him because he wanted to plead innocent.
Joachim Pedro Espanhol, who is accused of cooking up VAT refunds to defraud the ministry, said he initially wanted to plead guilty but later changed his mind which made his lawyer, Apollos Shimakeleni, to withdraw his services.
The ministry is said to have been defrauded millions of dollars in this said scam.
The case has also implicated a mob of Angolans including a Namibian woman, Mamsy Nuuyoma.
Shimakeleni, who did not show up for Espanhol in court this week has denied that he coerced the accused to plead guilty and could not make any further comment.
Two other accused persons, Joao Manuel Dos Santos and Lucio Jose Cazembe also showed up without a lawyer after the one they had pulled out his service as well, derailing further progress.
This frustrated the presiding judge who seriously noted that the case cannot afford to be stalled anymore with postponements.
“I will not allow this matter to stall because of the unavailability of counsel. There will come a time when we will not postpone this matter any further,” he said before shifting the date to the 28th of March this year.
The unrepresented Espanhol will in the meantime have room to seek a lawyer at the office of legal aid.
A new lawyer has in the meantime been found to represent Dos Santos and Cazembe but the court heard that he will need a week and a half to prepare.
This is so given that much of the case’s weight rests on Dos Santos, the court also heard.
Another accused person in the case has been absent from court proceedings for some time now and his charges have been withdrawn.
According to the indictment the accused persons forged tax invoices, VAT claim forms and customs documentation to claim VAT refunds from the ministry of finance.
The false refund claims are said to stem from false information that goods had been bought in Namibia and then exported, entitling the buyers to a refund of the VAT they had paid on the goods.
Not all of the allegedly fraudulent refund claims were paid out.
The Angolans dealt with a company, Aveshe Consultancy which was at the time managing Vat refunds for the ministry and one of its ex-employees, Mamsy Nuuyoma got sucked in the scandal.