Otjiwarongo prosecutor charged with fraud

Home Crime and Courts Otjiwarongo prosecutor charged with fraud

Maria Amakali

Windhoek-A public prosecutor stationed at Otjiwarongo Magistrate’s Court is facing fraud charges for having allegedly removed traffic fines of road offenders from the system.
As a result, Johannes Nunuheb faces six charges ranging from fraud, corruption, theft by false pretence and using his position for gratification.

According to the substantive summary on the charge sheet, Nunuheb who is employed by the Office of the Prosecutor-General as a public prosecutor, used his position while stationed at Otjiwarongo Magistrate’s Court to misdirect a certain Julio Domingo by informing him that the system was offline and he could thus not pay his traffic fine. Nunuheb allegedly acquired the funds, but instead of paying the fine pocketed the money. After having acquired the funds in the amount of N$1,000, he allegedly withdrew the ticket, stating that it was a defective charge.

On a separate occasion Nunuheb allegedly cheated a certain Lin and Elton Kuzatjike of N$1,200 respectively by informing them that the system was offline and that he would make the payments on their behalf, but yet again kept the money for himself.

All this he did while employed as a prosecutor, pocketing N$3,400 in the process. Nunuheb was granted bail of N$2,000 and had his case postponed to August 29 for plea and trial.

The lower court is currently dealing with two other cases of fraud against former prosecutors Ivan Tjizu and Anton Wilson. Tjizu is alleged to be the brain behind the witness fees scam, amounting to some N$410,000, which transpired during his time of employment at Windhoek Magistrate’s Court. He is expect to make a return to court later in June.

Wilson on the other hand is alleged have stolen a charge sheet, having corruptly used his office for personal gain, and misrepresented information to the magistrate by fraud, as well as corruptly using false documents for personal gain.