The Police confirmed yesterday that they had started "studying information" which emerged from a report following the Presidential commission of inquiry into the parastatal's affairs in 2002-3.

If the Police decide to formulate charges against any of those accused of wrongdoing, it will be the first time since Independence that a commission of inquiry has prompted the criminal prosecution of individuals.

Chief Inspector Hieronymus Goraseb, of the Police Public Relation's Division, said on enquiry yesterday that the Criminal Investigation Department was studying evidence related to major theft, corruption and fraud at the SSC.

However, he said no criminal case had yet been opened, nor had the Police formulated any charges against the former employees and others who were hauled before the commission to explain how millions of dollars in taxpayers' money were siphoned off in a web of greed and shady deals.

The Namibian understands that a task force has been set up comprising the Police, Labour Ministry and the Attorney General's office to assist in building cases which may lead to individuals facing criminal charges.

The possible prosecution of individuals involved in the mismanagement of the SSC could signal the writing on the wall for several dozen more individuals incriminated in corruption in other State-owned institutions such as the Roads Authority (RA), Development Brigade Corporation (DBC) and Namibia Development Corporation (NDC).

The final report of the SSC, which has not been made public, recommended that action be taken not only to rectify administrative loopholes within the State-owned entity, which may have given rise to corruption, but also that evidence be handed over to the Police for further investigation.

Goraseb said it was too soon to tell whether any of the information handed to them would definitely lead to the laying of criminal charges against anybody.

"We are going through the documents to determine whether any charges will be formulated," he said.

Labour Minister Marlene Mungunda, whose Ministry has been mandated to implement the commission's recommendations, was adamant yesterday that those against whom evidence of graft could be found "have to be brought to book".

She said she hoped there would be progress in this regard by the end of February.

Mungunda added that the setting up of new structures within the SSC (including the appointment of a new board and CEO) had already contributed to better efficiency as well as the suspension of administrative staff guilty of wrong-doing.

"We are working on things. Things are developing as planned," she told The Namibian.

"Everything is going well. We've cleaned up."

She ruled out the commission's report being made public saying "it involved people" and that everything would be "opened up" as the process progressed.

The Police would now be using the report and possibly requesting independent evidence to consider formulating charges against any number of people alleged to have defrauded the organisation.

These cases would then be referred to the office of the Prosecutor General for a decision on whether or not to prosecute.

From the three-month long hearings which started towards the end of 2002, widespread corruption came to light involving more than 20 individuals including the former SSC CEO Dessa Onesmus, a string of managers, insurance brokers and other outsiders.

The many incidents of corruption which emerged included employee self-enrichment schemes, illegal insurance deals and kickbacks to brokers and the theft of funds including a cheque of nearly N$8 million - a transaction which luckily was never processed.

Reports on the commissions of inquiry into the affairs of the RA, which began at the end of 2003, and another into the DBC and NDC last year, are both yet to be finalised.

It is not clear whether they too will be handed to the Police for further investigation.

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