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Friday, January 25, 2008 - Web posted at 7:01:48 GMT Lack of forensic auditors 'a problem' JOHN GROBLERNAMIBIA'S law enforcement agencies are experiencing a critical shortage of staff specialised in the field of commercial crimes such as fraud, embezzlement and corruption, which seriously hampers efforts to bring white-collar criminals to book, Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa says. |
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Imalwa said well-known cases such as the Avid and Offshore Development Company (ODC) embezzlement, the NDF's missing N$3 million and other similar cases involved complex financial transactions that needed highly specialised financial investigators. "We need people like chartered accountants and auditors because the crimes we have to investigate are complex, difficult matters, but we do not have the people to do this kind of work," she said in an interview this week. Many cases involved complex money-laundering schemes that could not be fully prosecuted under current legislation, she pointed out. The organised crime and money-laundering bill, which would provide for seizing ill-gotten gains, has been languishing in Parliament since late 2005. "It is one matter to just arrest the suspects, try and convict them, and another to recover that money they stole," Imalwa said. "We would like to do both, but unlike some of our neighbouring countries, we do not have all the necessary legal tools yet." Imalwa said in some complex cases, ongoing investigations sometimes collapsed because a specific officer had resigned from the Police unit, with the result that the matter stalled. While the Anti-Corruption Commission was dealing with cases of corruption, many of the same high-profile cases also involved fraud, which typically was investigated by the Commercial Crime Unit of NamPol, Imalwa pointed out. However, the Commercial Crime Unit itself has lost some of its best senior detectives, such as Chief Inspectors Lloyd and Shikwambi, to the Anti-Corruption Commission because of more attractive salaries and service conditions offered by the ACC. The ACC has about 10 experienced investigators, including the redoubtable former Chief Inspector Neels Becker, but none of them is qualified at the level of a Chartered Accountant, as crimes committed under the Companies Act would require. The ACC has also experienced its own personnel problems: some earlier appointments have had to be rescinded after it emerged that some appointees were "… not exactly of the moral qualities we required," as a senior ACC official previously put it. Other experienced Police detectives have moved to the private sector, where increasing white-collar crime has led to a huge demand for forensic auditing services - which crimes often cannot be solved quickly enough by the Police. At the same time, a stifling and often nepotistic bureaucracy, coupled with real or perceived tribalism, has seen many other committed Policemen such as Inspector Linus Neumbo becoming insurance fraud investigators instead. One such former Policeman said he had since more than doubled his salary, could afford a better house and a new car. "I actually got paid really well [for working overtime] instead of having to fight for it every time. Why should I stay in the Police?" he said. Police spokesman Chief Inspector Nangolo Amulungu conceded that this was a major problem: "Everyone is feeling the rising cost of living…. How can you stop your best Policemen from going over [to the private sector]?" he said recently. At the same time, the courts were creaking under a case load that often saw lawyers raising as many legal points as possible in order to frustrate the progress of the case, only to later move for dismissal because the State was taking too long to prove its case, as Deputy Prosecutor General Danie Small said recently. Imalwa was adamant, however, that high-profile cases such as the Avid and ODC scandals, the NDF's missing N$3 million and the massive tender fraud committed at the Ministry of Works would eventually be brought to court. "But the public has to understand that we are dealing with clever people here who know how to take advantage of the system. We have to be ready and prepared, investigations need to be done properly before that can happen," she said. * John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587 |
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