Trial of former top policemen starts

By: DENVER ISAACS

THE trial of two senior Police officers charged with stealing money from the force in May 2006 finally got underway in the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura yesterday.

Both the former commanding officer of the Police's Finance

Division, Joseph Kamati, and the head of its Special Branch, Lotti

Neruma Uusiku, yesterday pleaded not guilty to all charges of theft

brought against them before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs.

Both men are accused of misappropriating amounts of N$500, N$700

and N$600 from the Special Branch's operational funds on three

separate occasions in 2005.

 

Uusiku faces an additional charge of stealing N$12 000 from

these funds between 2005 and 2006.

 

Kamati has since resigned from the police, while Uusiku remains

on suspension.

 

In a plea read on his behalf by his defence lawyer Jan Wessels,

Uusiku denied any knowledge of the N$12 000 that had gone

missing.

 

Both men however acknowledged that the three other amounts named

had been lent to Kamati by Uusiku as head of the Special

Branch.

 

They both claimed that this was done in accordance with accepted

procedures within the Namibian Police.

 

According to Uusiku, he was under the impression that the

amounts had been for subsistence and travel (S&T) money owed to

Kamati, adding that he did not know that it was for Kamati's

personal use, as was charged.

 

Kamati, on the other hand, through his defence lawyer Charles

Visser, acknowledged that the loan had been to help him cover

"personal liabilities", but said that he was under the impression

that Uusiku was entitled to lend him such amounts.

 

He said it had always been his intention to repay the loan,

adding that the full amount had subsequently been paid back.

 

The only witness called to the stand yesterday was the

commanding officer of the Namibian Police, Inspector General

Sebastian Ndeitunga.

 

Ndeitunga, when questioned by prosecutor Brownwell Uirab, said

he was informed in February 2006 by a whistleblower inside the

Police of certain financial misadministration in the Special

Branch.

 

Ndeitunga added that he almost assigned Kamati to head the

investigation into these allegations.

 

"I called Kamati.

 

He was my right-hand man when it came to inspections of

money.

 

I told him that I had received some information that something

was wrong and that I wanted him to launch an investigation to

detect what this was.

 

But when he asked me what specifically I wanted checked,

something suspicious came to me," Ndeitunga said, adding that he

cancelled the order he had given Kamati.

 

When Kamati went on leave soon thereafter, Ndeitunga said he

decided to re-launch the investigation with Kamati's deputy and the

Police's auditor in charge.

 

This "surprise investigation" found a discrepancy in the Special

Branch's operational funds' books, he said.

 

Ndeitunga's suspicions were further raised when Uusiku appeared

evasive when asked to present the physical money.

 

The money had been locked in a cashbox inside a safe in Uusiku's

office, the Police Chief said, and when the investigators wanted to

obtain it, they were told that Uusiku was in a meeting and could

not help them.

 

The next day, Ndeitunga said, Uusiku was unable to come up with

the key to the box.

 

They eventually had the cashbox broken open days later, to find

that instead of the expected amount of N$16 800, only N$2 800 was

in the box.

 

Under cross-examination by both Wessels and Visser, Ndeitunga

refused to give in to their insistence that it was appropriate for

the Special Branch's operational money to be used for any other

purpose than official Police business.

 

"Special Branch is not a cash loan [company].

 

This is Government money," Ndeitunga said.

 

The trial continues today.

 

The two men's bail of N$2 000 each remains in effect until

then.

 

Both men are accused of misappropriating amounts of N$500, N$700

and N$600 from the Special Branch's operational funds on three

separate occasions in 2005.Uusiku faces an additional charge of

stealing N$12 000 from these funds between 2005 and 2006.Kamati has

since resigned from the police, while Uusiku remains on

suspension.In a plea read on his behalf by his defence lawyer Jan

Wessels, Uusiku denied any knowledge of the N$12 000 that had gone

missing.Both men however acknowledged that the three other amounts

named had been lent to Kamati by Uusiku as head of the Special

Branch.They both claimed that this was done in accordance with

accepted procedures within the Namibian Police. According to

Uusiku, he was under the impression that the amounts had been for

subsistence and travel (S&T) money owed to Kamati, adding that

he did not know that it was for Kamati's personal use, as was

charged.Kamati, on the other hand, through his defence lawyer

Charles Visser, acknowledged that the loan had been to help him

cover "personal liabilities", but said that he was under the

impression that Uusiku was entitled to lend him such amounts.He

said it had always been his intention to repay the loan, adding

that the full amount had subsequently been paid back.The only

witness called to the stand yesterday was the commanding officer of

the Namibian Police, Inspector General Sebastian

Ndeitunga.Ndeitunga, when questioned by prosecutor Brownwell Uirab,

said he was informed in February 2006 by a whistleblower inside the

Police of certain financial misadministration in the Special

Branch.Ndeitunga added that he almost assigned Kamati to head the

investigation into these allegations."I called Kamati.He was my

right-hand man when it came to inspections of money.I told him that

I had received some information that something was wrong and that I

wanted him to launch an investigation to detect what this was.But

when he asked me what specifically I wanted checked, something

suspicious came to me," Ndeitunga said, adding that he cancelled

the order he had given Kamati.When Kamati went on leave soon

thereafter, Ndeitunga said he decided to re-launch the

investigation with Kamati's deputy and the Police's auditor in

charge.This "surprise investigation" found a discrepancy in the

Special Branch's operational funds' books, he said.Ndeitunga's

suspicions were further raised when Uusiku appeared evasive when

asked to present the physical money.The money had been locked in a

cashbox inside a safe in Uusiku's office, the Police Chief said,

and when the investigators wanted to obtain it, they were told that

Uusiku was in a meeting and could not help them.The next day,

Ndeitunga said, Uusiku was unable to come up with the key to the

box.They eventually had the cashbox broken open days later, to find

that instead of the expected amount of N$16 800, only N$2 800 was

in the box.Under cross-examination by both Wessels and Visser,

Ndeitunga refused to give in to their insistence that it was

appropriate for the Special Branch's operational money to be used

for any other purpose than official Police business."Special Branch

is not a cash loan [company].This is Government money," Ndeitunga

said.The trial continues today.The two men's bail of N$2 000 each

remains in effect until then.

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