WINDHOEK – The investigations into the theft of N$4.9 million from the Ministry of Works and Transport are still incomplete and the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court postponed the hearing of the case to 30 October.
New Era broke the story in July.
Six people stand accused of swindling the money from the ministry in July this year. The accused are Jane Ndapandula Kashiyukile, 42, Manuel Heyn, 52, Brown Rasta Abraham, 39, Jacobus Totie Gurirab, 43, Berend Johannes Neels, 49, and Castro Mafitelo Lifalaza, 27.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested the accused between 19 June and 18 July after a local commercial bank alerted the authorities about a suspicious transaction that the suspects had intended to complete.
This was after an amount of N$4 945 057.01, which was supposed to be channelled into the account of K L Construction, was diverted into the bank account of Etanaka Trading Zone cc, a company allegedly owned by Heyn.
The intended recipient of the money, K L Construction, was awarded the tender to construct the road between Oshigambo and Eenhana, bordering the Oshikoto and Ohangwena regions. During its investigations, the ACC found that Lifalaza, the works ministry accountant, facilitated the process of diverting the money from K L Construction’s account to that of Etanaka.
It has so far been established that Etanaka has no business relations with the works ministry or with K L Construction.
“It is alleged that Gurirab approached Neels at the Ministry of Health and Social Services to request the change of banking details of K L Construction (Pty) Ltd to Etanaka Trading Zone cc,” ACC spokesperson Albert Mbanga said at the time.
Neels allegedly involved his colleague Kashiyukile, who authored a letter to the Ministry of Finance with instructions to pay the money into – unbeknown to the finance ministry – Etanaka’s bank account. This was supposedly because K L Construction had changed its banking details and had requested that the money be paid into the newly-provided account.
To see if the money had indeed been deposited, an initial N$500 was allegedly withdrawn from an ATM.
After that the accused allegedly proceeded to withdraw N$2 million from inside the bank, raising suspicion among bank officials. All six are free on bail of N$30 000. Magistrate Kaulikalekwa Nghishitende presided when the matter came before court last Friday week.