By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
A report on alleged misuse of millions of dollars by a senior official at the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication will be released early next week.
Director of the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), Paulus Noa, disclosed to New Era yesterday that all the individuals implicated in the case have been interrogated with the latest to be questioned on the matter being a former under-secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication who has resigned.
“He came last week and we have his statement. We are busy with the report and by next week it will be ready,” said Noa.
The case involves tender procedures involving Government projects that were allegedly flouted.
It is alleged that some individuals who were in charge instructed that millions of dollars be given to a company to do landscaping at the site where the new state house is being built. Landscaping was to involve changing the contours on a piece of land, adding ornamental features and planting trees.
Although a N$5 million cheque was issued, no work was carried out on the site.
Despite doing nothing on the ground, the company constantly demanded more money for the project. The official implicated is said to have played an influential role in the administration of this particular project.
When the ministry got wind of the issuing of the N$5 million cheque, the official reportedly failed to give a satisfactory explanation on how he arrived at the figure and how this particular company secured the multi-million-dollar tender.
Among those interrogated were the manager of the implicated company and the chairperson of an investigation committee appointed by the Government to investigate an elaborate self-enrichment scheme at the ministry.
The committee was primarily mandated to investigate a self-enrichment scam in which several senior people at the said ministry stood accused of accepting bribes related to tenders for Government capital projects such as the renovation and construction of schools, houses and roads.