WINDHOEK - A former employee of the Road Fund Administration (RFA) that did not show up for court when his fraud trial was supposed to start in March was arrested and appeared on a warrant of arrest on Thursday afternoon. Diaz Shipandeka, 36, who was free on a warning from the court failed to show up for his scheduled trial on March 04 this year and Windhoek High Court Judge Alfred Siboleka, issued a warrant of arrest with immediate effect. He was arrested on Wednesday and appeared on Thursday before Acting Judge Kobus Miller for an enquiry into why he did not show up. State Advocate Constance Moyo informed the court that the matter needs a broader enquiry and asked for a remand until April 04. 

She further informed Judge Miller that she would ask for the cancellation of the warning and for Shipandeka to remain in custody until the finalization of his trial while Advocate Louis Botes informed the court, he will bring a bail application as soon as possible. 

Botes will represent Shipandeka during the trial on instructions from Kalundu Kamwi. Shipandeka was remanded in custody in the meantime by the judge. He faces five charges of fraud, alternatively theft, one count of money laundering and one count of corruptly using his office or position to obtain gratification. It is alleged by the State that Shipandeka defrauded the RFA, where he was employed as an information technology expert, of close to N$2.5 million while in the alternative charge of theft it is claimed he stole about N$2.49 million. 

According to the indictment, Shipandeka, “through the course of his employment had access to the RFA E$RP System (Ebizframe) as the information technology expert, did without authorization on March, 28, 2012 make use of the user code -01-Supervisor to create a fictitious client in the name of CURBELO-SIETE-ISLAS SL on the Ebizframe system and allocated it a client No. F0056.” Thereafter, the indictment state, he proceeded to create five unsupported and unapproved claims which he inserted in the schedule for payments for Standard Bank for the month of April 2012. It is further claimed the bank account number that was used to deposit the money into belonged to his girlfriend, Marieta Susan Blom and as a result of this fraud amounts of N$936 988; N$79 571.90; N$204 540 and N$487 256.16 were paid into this account. The money was meant for Off Road Fuel Levy Refunds. 

It is further said that Shipandeka misrepresented to Blom when he requested her banking details that he expected money from Zambia for business he was engaged in and since he was in the process of divorcing his wife, he did not want the money to be paid into his personal account. The Prosecutor General has already obtained property preservation orders regarding the Prevention of Organised Crime Act to in effect freeze bank accounts in the names of Shipandeka and Blom after the alleged fraudulent payments were discovered. 

About N$2.2 million was recovered from the two bank accounts, and returned to the RFA.