Selma Ikela
WINDHOEK – Investigations into the fraud case involving the alleged theft of N$208,000 belonging to convicted murderer Lazarus Shaduka is well on track, police say.
The money was allegedly withdrawn from the ex-fugitive’s bank account by a prison guard and fellow inmate.
Namibian Police Force spokesperson Edwin Kanguatjivi, without going into detail, said the police have done substantial work on the case. Nampol’s commercial crime investigation directorate is investigating roughly N$192,000 which went missing from Shaduka’s bank account.
A case of fraud was opened at the Katutura police station after Shaduka realised on April 24 this year that N$208,000 was missing from his Standard Bank account.
Namibian Correctional Service Commissioner-General Tuhafeni Hamunyela told New Era that he was waiting for the police to finalise its investigation before it is sent to him.
Hamunyela added that no money has been recovered yet but this did not mean the offender will lose his money.
In the daily correctional incident report of April 26, prison authorities stated that two days after Shaduka’s
discovery, a prison guard Sakaria Joel Fikameni confessed to having a hand in the dodgy transaction.
He claimed to have fallen into a trap by offender Salek Ditshabue, who allegedly gave him the card and the PIN, requesting him to withdraw N$1,000 and bring it to him. The report stated that that had been the practice for a while until one day Fikameni decided to withdraw the money for his own benefit.
It is further alleged that Fikameni at some point handed the ATM card to Ditshabue’s girlfriend, who lives in Okahandja, to withdraw money.
Hamunyela had earlier told New Era that investigations would determine how inmate Ditshabue got hold of Shaduka’s ATM card, which was kept in the safe at the facility’s clinic, but that went missing. Ditshabue and Shaduka shared a cell but were separated after the incident.
Shaduka was a successful businessman with interests in the financial and property sectors before his conviction of killing his wife Selma Mirjam ya Leopold Shaimemanya in 2008. He went on the run for almost four years after he lost his appeal against a 20-year jail term in December 2012. He handed himself over to the Namibian consulate in Angola during November 2016.