JP211004944

Super Golden handshake for Dr. Tobie Aupindi

Tobie Aupindi, the former Managing Director of Namibia Wildlife Resort (NWR), walked away with about N$5 million when he decided to resign from the company – a deal that the board of directors boasted had saved the company N$7 million.

The real issue

Reporting in March/April at the Annual General Meeting of the firm this year, and specifically to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the Minister of Environment and Tourism who represents the government as the shareholder, the directors described Aupindi’s contract as “poorly written”, thus leaving them with no alternative but to pay out the huge sum. At a salary of N$1,8 million a year, according to the contract that was heavily weighted in the employee’s favour, Aupindi was entitled to a payout just shy of N$12 million even though he voluntarily decided to leave the company in December 2010, four months before his five-year contract expired. People with knowledge of his employment contract say that Aupindi was paid a salary of more than N$150 000 a month, in addition to yearly bonuses. When he was hired as MD of the NWR in 2006, the contract stated that the MD must be paid a “severance package” that is equal to five times his current salary “for whatever reason” he leaves the company. The contract also said that he “must be paid” a bonus every year, regardless of his performance and irrespective whether the company was doing well financially. Aupindi took over NWR in financial shambles with tourism resorts that had fallen into a state of decay after years of poor management and a failure to recapitalise the business. The government has since pumped in more than N$400 million, most of which was used to renovate a few resorts, but substantial amounts have been reported missing or paid for ghost work, casting doubt over the success of Aupindi’s much-vaunted “turn-around strategy”.

Aupindi got the yearly bonus despite the company performing poorly and failing to submit its financials as per law. The Namibian has learnt that KPMG, withdrew as NWR’s auditing firm, but it is not clear what the exact reasons are. The board at this year’s Annual General Meeting boasted that it had saved the company nearly N$7 million after successfully negotiating a severance agreement with Aupindi, which saw him walk away with a cash payout of only N$4,5 million. In addition, Aupindi was also paid for “unused leave” after he had allegedly worked for several years without going on holiday in the almost five years he was the MD of NWR. The current board of directors, who were appointed towards the end of Aupindi’s reign, put the blame for the “poorly written” contract on the company’s previous board comprised of Klemens /Awarab, Rieth van Schalkwyk, Tobie Aupindi (as Managing Director), Maria Kasita, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, Epsom Jossop and Ananias Abner. The current board declined to comment, saying that there was a “gag agreement in play”. “Contractually, neither party can speak of its (contract) contents or details,” said the board. Contacted for comment yesterday, Aupindi declined to comment, saying his contract with NWR had expired a long time ago and that it would serve no purpose to comment on it at this time.

The government's reaction

From the side of cabinet, Prime Minister Nahas Angula said the drafting of the contract in question at the time was the responsibility of the NWR board and the ministry concerned and not in the domain of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance (SOEs) Council as is currently the case. “That contract was done a long time ago and the board at that time recommended it to the minister concerned,” he said. The Minister of Environment and Tourism at the time was Reverend Willem Konjore, who, when asked about the contents of Aupindi’s contract, said he could not remember anything about it now as “it has been a long time since then” and termed the contract as an administrative issue. The NWR is currently headed by Nghidinua Daniel on secondment from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Other Corruption matters

The former Managing Director of Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), Tobie Aupindi, 36, was accussed of corruption together with Antonia di Savino.Their case which was suppose to be on the 28 September 2012 was then postponed for a further five months ahead because the public prosecutor fell ill. This follows shortly after another lengthy six months postponement when the same matter was stood down for September 14, 2012, in late March this year because Di Savino was out of the country after escorting his elderly mother back to Italy. Magistrate Helvi Shilamba adjourned the corruption case to February 26 and 27 next year.

The matter before the Windhoek Magistrate Court deals with charges against Aupindi and Di Savino on allegations that the two provided false information to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigator Willem Lloyd.The two are also charged with attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice.Aupindi and Di Savino, who are represented by Richard Metcalfe and Louis du Pisani, respectively, were arrested after a website published an article by freelance journalist John Grobler.

The article reported that Aupindi had corruptly received a swimming pool for free at his Hochland Park residence in exchange for tile tenders awarded to Di Savino for work done at NWR resorts. On the ACC charge, Aupindi is accussed of providing information that he knew was false to an investigator, by stating that he had paid N$50 000 in cash to LIC Pools for the swimming pool installed at 25 Kestrel Street, Hochland Park. According to the ACC, Aupindi did not pay for the swimming pool but that Di Savino had settled the bill.However, Metcalfe maintained during a court appearance that Aupindi is not guilty of corruption as the article by Grobler is a personal vendetta against his client.Metcalfe had charged that the article was written based on an ACC docket compiled by Willem Lloyd.

ACC Presents the information unearthed by the media

The owner of a local tiling franchise, Antonio di Savino, had paid for a N$50,000 swimming pool installed at the private home of former Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) MD Tobie Aupindi in 2006, shortly after the NWR had announced their controversial “turn-around strategy” for Namibia’s run-down state-owned resorts. Both the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Office of the Prosecutor-General (P-G) confirmed that an earlier investigation into same allegations had been re-opened.

The second ACC investigation came around the same time as NWR’s Aupindi announced six months before his contract was to expire that he won't be re-applying for the N$1.6 million per annum position Documents obtained by CWN showed that Di Savino, who is active in the construction business, had paid LIC Pools by cheque on 12 December 2006 for the installation of a state-of-the-art Gemini swimming pool at Aupindi’s Hochland Park home in 2006. The pair were investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission following revelations that costs for refurbishing the Ais-Ais resort had escalated by 55 percent from a budgeted N$18.7 million to over N$34 million and was a year late in completion.