KEETMANSHOOP – The seven people suspected of defrauding the //Kharas Regional Council in excess of N$1.4 million were yesterday granted bail ranging from N$5 000 to N$20 000.
Desmond Rudath (41), Petrus Isaaks (26) and Brian Snewe (42) were each given bail of N$20 000, while Martha Mupaine and her husband Carlos Mupaine each received bail of N$10 000.
Raimond Snewe and Hannalie Jacob each got bail of N$5 000.
As part of their bail conditions, Magistrate Hellena Nepembe, sitting at the Keetmanshoop Magistrate’s Court, ordered all the accused persons to surrender their travel documents and not to apply for any new travel documents.
Raimond Snewe, Rudath, Jacob and Isaaks will also have to report to the Keetmanshoop police station between 06h00 and 09h00, while Brian Snewe, and Martha and Carlos Mupaine must report to the Commercial Investigation Unit in Windhoek at the same time.
All accused agreed to their bail amounts and conditions through their lawyers except Orben Sibeya, legal representative of Martha and Carlos Mupaine, who argued that his clients’ bail that was initially set at N$20 000 by the prosecutor, Joseph Andreas, be reduced to N$5 000, as they are married and have children at home.
He further argued that the two have from the start willingly handed themselves to the police and made no attempts to run from officers, adding that his clients have not interfered with any investigations since they were questioned by police and the amount of N$20 000 was just denial of bail, as the two have an income of just about N$5 000 per month.
The case saw a huge number of people in the courtroom and even caused some delays in other cases as some trial-awaiting suspects went to witness the fraud case and had to be called to other courtrooms to hear their own cases.
The case was remanded to May13 for further police investigations. Initial reports indicated the suspects, one of whom is an employee at the //Kharas Education Directorate and a building contractor, opened a bank account through which they diverted government funds that they withdrew and shared.