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SSC cheat sent to prison for five years
THE main figure in a web of a fraud that was discovered at the Social Security Commission in late 2006 has been sent to prison for an effective five years.
Two months after he had pleaded guilty to 87 counts of fraud, former SSC registry clerk Maxwell Spanneberg heard Magistrate Sarel Jacobs announce in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday that he was being sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. Two years of the sentence were suspended for a period of five years on condition that Spanneberg is not again convicted of fraud committed during the period of the suspension.
Spanneberg was the first accused in a case in which he and 63 co-accused were charged with counts of corruption or fraud involving close to half a million Namibia dollars.
A little over three years after his arrest in November 2006, Spanneberg pleaded guilty to 87 counts of fraud in the Windhoek Regional Court on December 8 last year.
He admitted that in the period from October 20 2001 to August 22 2006 he defrauded the SSC on 87 occasions by having sick leave claims in the names of SSC members approved and paid out while he knew that the claims were false.
In total, N$440 470,83 was paid out by the SSC as a result of the fraudulent claims. In a plea explanation that was provided to Magistrate Jacobs, Spanneberg stated that he received a third of the money that was paid out by the SSC.
Spanneberg also offered to testify for the prosecution against his remaining co-accused in the case in which he and 63 other suspects were charged in connection with the fraud discovered at the SSC.
With the sentencing on Friday, Magistrate Jacobs recounted that Spanneberg told the court that he committed the fraud due to alcohol and drug abuse, which he had been indulging in since 2001. This shows that Spanneberg used the proceeds of his crimes to pay for a lifestyle that was beyond his means, the magistrate commented.
Fraud is always a serious offence, and it is even more so when it is committed in an employer-employee relationship, Magistrate Jacobs told Spanneberg.
He said while Spanneberg had been employed in a position of trust with the SSC, he abused that position to misappropriate public funds. Society expects honesty from people in positions of trust, the magistrate said.
Spanneberg defrauded the SSC of a substantial amount of money and over an extended period, the magistrate also noted. He said from the time that Spanneberg committed the first act of fraud until the fraud scheme was finally discovered in late 2006, Spanneberg had ample time to reconsider. This he however failed to do.
Spanneberg was free on bail of N$15 000 from mid-December 2006 until he pleaded guilty in December last year, whereafter the magistrate ordered that he should remain in custody until his sentencing.
The trial of his remaining co-accused is scheduled to start in the Windhoek Regional Court on May 6.
Spanneberg was represented by defence lawyer Jan Wessels. Public Prosecutor Simba Nduna represented the State.
