RCC pays N$30m in undelivered fuel deal

The state-owned Roads Contractor Company has paid N$30 million to suppliers for fuel, of which N$17 million’s worth was never delivered, with the deal being linked to fugitive businessman Victor Malima.

A warrant for Malima’s arrest in connection with the Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) corruption scandal was issued in July last year.

The RCC faced liquidation from 2017 to 2023 due to debt accumulation of approximately N$900 million.

The company was, however, at the same time involved in questionable transactions with Malima, among others.

This includes payments between September 2023 and July 2025 involving transactions that were personally approved by RCC interim chief executive Dasius Nelumbu.

Documents seen by The Namibian show that the RCC paid N$27 million to Oshali Fuel Centre CC for fuel deliveries to various project sites.

The company’s sole member, Simeon Handjene, was arrested and charged in a separate fraud and corruption case this year.

Oshali Fuel Centre subsequently failed to deliver fuel worth N$14 million, according to a reconciliation done by the RCC.

The roads company has since demanded that the outstanding fuel be delivered or that the money be refunded.

THE FIGURES

A reconciliation letter from Nelumbu to Oshali dated 18 February shows that the RCC made its first payment of N$17.5 million to Oshali Fuel Centre on 21 September 2023 for fuel intended for the Engoyi project site.

Of this amount, fuel worth N$6.9 million remained outstanding.

On 30 November 2023, the RCC paid a further N$3.4 million for fuel destined for the Onesi project. But fuel worth N$351 000 remained outstanding.

The Namibian understands that some of the sites had not begun operating when the fuel was paid for.

For the E-Dams project, the RCC paid N$1.2 million to Oshali Fuel Centre on 28 December 2023.

The company had not delivered the fuel covered by this payment, leaving the full amount of N$1.2 million outstanding.

Despite the outstanding deliveries, the RCC made another payment of N$2.7 million on 30 April 2024 for fuel intended for its Bethanie project. The reconciliation shows the full amount remained outstanding, indicating that no fuel was delivered against this payment.

Again, on 30 April 2025, the RCC paid N$2.7 million to Oshali Fuel Centre for fuel intended for the Kamanjab project.

The entire amount is outstanding.

LETTER OF DEMAND

In the letter, Nelumbu says Oshali Fuel Centre remained in breach of its agreement with the RCC despite the previous demands.

The RCC warned that failure to pay would result in legal action without further notice.

“Should you fail to make payment within the stipulated period, the RCC’s legal department has instructions to institute legal proceedings against your company,” Nelumbu says.

He says the proceedings would seek recovery of the outstanding amount, accrued interest and legal costs on the appropriate scale.

The demand raises questions about how the state-owned company continued making payments to Oshali Fuel Centre despite allegedly not receiving the full quantities of fuel it had paid for.

Nelumbu says he had demanded payment for the fuel supply since 2023, when Oshali delivered only 680 561 litres of fuel out of the nearly 1.4 million litres ordered.

COUNTER OFFER

Responding to the RCC’s letter of demand, Oshali Fuel Centre, through its owner Handjene, proposes a strategic partnership with another oil company which would help settle the N$14 million in outstanding fuel.

In a 3 March proposal to Nelumbu seen by The Namibian, Handjene requests the roads company to keep buying fuel and suggests that orders should be made out in another company’s name.

“Oshali will allocate N$0.20 cents [for every litre ordered] towards bringing down the outstanding balance due to the RCC. All orders will only become due and payable by the RCC upon full delivery of the said orders,” he says.

The court granted Handjene bail of N$50 000 following his arrest by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in April over corruption allegations in the Namcor case.

He was charged with theft and money laundering.

The matter was postponed to 28 October.

The Namibian could not reach Handjene by the time of going to print, despite calling his office number and sending emails to the addresses provided in his proposal documents. The emails bounced back.

Responding on Wednesday, Nelumbu said the matter is in court. The Namibian could, however, not verify whether the matter is in court, as Nelumbu refused to share the relevant case number.

“Our response to your questions is that the matter is before court and is therefore subject to the principle of res sub judice,” he said.

The RCC, however, denied opening a case, prompting more questions on responsibility for wasting over N$17 million to a business person accused of corruption and a fugitive.

Sources close to the matter say no court case has been registered and negotiations regarding the payment of the outstanding amount were still ongoing.

The Namibian understands the board has asked Nelumbu to provide feedback on how the fuel was bought without the procurement unit’s permission.

FUEL FUGUTIVE

Apart from Oshali Fuel debt, documents seen by The Namibian show that another contract under scrutiny for not delivering fuel involves a N$3-million fuel supply tender awarded to Eco Fuel Investment CC.

This fuel contractor company has been linked to Malima.

The company did not supply the outstanding fuel for the Henties-Uis MR76 project for 2023.

This had forced the RCC to pay millions to other suppliers to meet its fuel needs at the ongoing Sandverhaar railway project and Engoyi.

The Namibian previously reported that the ACC was investigating Malima and RCC chief executive Nelumbu over corruption allegations.

Documents seen by The Namibian show that another contract under scrutiny is a N$1.5-million fuel supply tender awarded to Eco Fuel Investment CC.

It appears the RCC allowed Malima and Handjene to switch to new companies after the ACC started investigating the matter.

The Namibian understands that this is how Oshali Fuel Centre came into the picture, as well as Vanco Energy CC, a company Handjene in his proposal said would assist in repaying his debts to allow the flow of payments from the RCC.

Malima, who allegedly fled the country last year, is implicated in a fuel scandal involving more than N$380 million in unpaid Namcor debts.

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