Justicia Shipena
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Paulus Noa confirmed that antiretroviral medicines seized six years ago are now expired.
The medicine has been stored in a Chinese container confiscated by the ACC since 2019.
“We cannot dispose of that container before the case is finalised,”Noa told the Windhoek Observer
He added the matter is still with the office of the prosecutor general, awaiting a decision.
Noa confirmed it is the same container confiscated in 2019.
“It can only be that one because we only have one container in relation to medicine. That is the only case we have still pending the decision of the prosecutor general in relation to that particular container,” he said.
The container was first intercepted at Walvis Bay harbour in September 2018 during a World Customs Organisation operation targeting fake medicine entering Africa.
The consignment, valued at N$8.1 million, contained co-trimoxazole, commonly used to treat bacterial infections in people living with HIV/AIDS.
It was meant for the ministry of health but was rejected by the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council (NMRC) after three of nine samples failed laboratory tests. It also lacked the required import and licensing documents.
In August 2019, ACC reports show that the ACC had confiscated 1 300 boxes of medicine, each containing 500 tablets, labelled GRN-MoHSS.
Reports also showed that the supplier, NM Medicals CC, claimed the medicine was destined for Kenya despite Namibian government labelling.
NM Medicals is said to be owned by Taimi Amakutuwa and Meameno Nghikembua, close associates and former business partners of government procurement officer Fabiola Vahekeni, who was accused of being central to the awarding of the tender.
The ACC considered the consignment proceeds of crime because of the way the tender was awarded.
Part of the charges involved contravening the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act.
The commission also investigated Central Medical Stores officials involved in securing NM Medicals the supply contract.
NM Medicals had previously won medical supply tenders worth over N$14 million, with the intercepted shipment valued at N$7 million.
The health ministry defended the consignment, citing shortages, but the finance ministry opposed its release, saying it did not meet import standards.
The medicine was supplied through a chain of transactions. The Chinese company Lick Hang Engineering acted as a middleman, buying the drugs from Reyoung Pharmaceuticals in China and selling them to NM Medicals.
NM Medicals planned to sell them to the government at a markup. In September 2018, NM Medicals informed Lick Hang it had applied for a compassionate clearance certificate to import the medicine, but it had not been issued.
The company advised Lick Hang to deliver the drugs outside Namibia or to other local clients.
Lick Hang later decided to sell the consignment to a buyer in Kenya. In August 2019, while arranging to ship the medicine out of Namibia, the ACC seized the container.
That same year, Lick Hang took the matter to the High Court, challenging the legality of the ACC’s seizure warrant and seeking the release of the container.
The urgent application, which involved seven Namibian entities, was struck from the roll for lack of urgency by acting judge Kaijata Kangueehi.
Then health executive director Ben Nangombe sparked tension over the impounded container after an alleged secret meeting, which was described as a plot to have it released.
Nangombe stated that the seized drugs were antibiotics for HIV patients and could have contributed to shortages at Katutura Intermediate Hospital.
The medicine remains in ACC hands, with no decision yet from prosecutor general Martha Imalwa.
Imalwa did not respond to questions sent by the Windhoek Observer at the time of publication.
