7 entities owe SME Bank N$150m

SEVEN of the biggest SME Bank loan recipients who include property developers, a media company and a medicine supply firm got a combined N$150 million from the troubled institution.

This is according to the latest confidential documents obtained by The Namibian last month. The seven top borrowers as at 31 March 2017 are supermarket chain Woermann Brock with N$34 million; Max Media Conglomerate, the owners of the Confidénte newspaper, with N$28 million; construction firm Sabika Investments with N$27 million; and medicine supplier Global Pharmaceutical Exchange with N$18 million. The others are property developers Ferusa Capital Financing with N$17 million; Tura Properties with N$14 million; and the United Africa Group's United Property Management with N$12 million. Auditing firm Deloitte said in its report filed in the ongoing High Court case that the SME Bank contravened the Banking Institutions Act in the cases of the Woermann Brock and Max Media loans when it failed to report the transactions to the central bank.