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Tuesday, April 30, 2002 - Web posted at 9:17:18 pm GMT

A BUSINESSWOMAN at Ondangwa has been arrested in connection with the theft of a Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) cheque for N$163 570.

The suspect is Nangula Paulina Paulus (40), the owner of Limbandungila Lodge in the Onankali area, some 50 km outside Ondangwa.

On Friday she appeared in court at Ondangwa on charges of fraud, forgery, theft and uttering, according to the Police. She was released after she paid bail of N$2 500.

A source said Paulus had given the Police the names of NBC employees who were allegedly the architects of the cheque scam at the State broadcaster.

The case was postponed to May 29 to enable detectives to wrap up their investigation into a scam that sources say appears to involve a syndicate.

"There might be some arrests (of NBC workers) as the investigation continues," Police spokesman Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu said yesterday.

Though many of the attempts to cash the stolen cheques were unsuccessful, two transactions involving N$69 000 and N$85 000 were processed.

One of the transactions that was thwarted involved a cheque of over N$163 000 that was allegedly deposited by Paulus into an account at City Savings and Investment Bank (CSIB).

NBC Director General Dr Ben Mulongeni said he alerted the Police when the scam in the corporation's Human Resources Department was brought to his attention.

NBC sources said that since December almost 30 cheques had been stolen from the Human Resources Department.