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Top cops fined in theft trial
THE theft trial of the suspen-ded Commanding Officer of the Namibian Police’s Special Branch, Commissioner Nelomba Lotti Uusiku, and a former high-ranking colleague, retired Commissioner Joseph Kamati, ended in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday with the two men being sentenced to fines totalling N$27 600.
Uusiku (52) was convicted on four counts of theft, involving a total of N$13 800, on November 12. On the same day, Magistrate Sarel Jacobs also convicted Kamati (62), who is the former head of the Police’s Finance division, on three counts of theft, involving a total of N$1 800. All of the four charges on which the two officers were prosecuted are related to money that was kept under the control of Uusiku, as Commanding Officer of the Police’s Special Branch.
Uusiku was accused of having stolen N$12 000 from the Police in the period between August 8 2005 and February 26 2006. He and Kamati were also jointly charged with stealing N$500 in Police funds on September 2 2005, N$700 on September 28 2005, and N$600 on October 12 2005.
The two charged men pleaded not guilty to all of the counts.
During the trial, Magistrate Jacobs heard that an audit of the funds under Uusiku’s control had been ordered by Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga in February 2006, it was discovered that there was a shortage of N$12 000 with respect to money that was kept in a safe in Uusiku’s office. It was also discovered that three amounts of money had been advanced to Kamati for his private use, with these transactions duly recorded in writing, from the Police funds under Uusiku’s control.
Kamati received N$500 out of the funds under Uusiku’s control on September 2 2005, N$700 on September 28 2005, and N$600 on October 12 2005.
He repaid all of the money on March 22 2006. Kamati told the court during the trial that he had requested the money from Uusiku as a loan which was to be repaid. He said he needed the money to have repairs done to a vehicle of his.
Uusiku however claimed that he thought the money that was being advanced to Kamati was for official purposes – despite the fact that on forms that were completed to record the advances made to Kamati it was written that the purpose of the payments to him was for “private use”.
While also denying that he stole any money from the Police, Uusiku further speculated that he might have been set up as a result of a conspiracy against him by colleagues who he claimed were envious of his rise through the ranks in the Namibian Police.
Magistrate Jacobs did not accept this claim by Uusiku.
With the sentencing yesterday, the magistrate told Uusiku and Kamati that it was considered as an aggravating factor that they were in senior positions in the Police, and as such also in positions of trust, when the crimes they were convicted of took place. Both of them abused their positions to their own benefit and at the expense of the Police, Magistrate Jacobs said.
He however added that the evidence before the court also indicates that both Uusiku and Kamati were good and useful human material. That fact, the age of the two accused, the fact that they were both first-time offenders and that three of the charges stem from an arrangement in which Kamati was borrowing money from funds under the control of Uusiku, with the intention of paying the money back later, persuaded him that the two men did not need to be sent to prison, the magistrate said.
On the theft charge involving the disappearance of N$12 000, Magistrate Jacobs sentenced Uusiku to pay a fine of N$12 000 or serve a two-year prison term, plus one year of imprisonment that was suspended in full for a period of four years on condition that Uusiku is not convicted of theft committed during the period of suspension, and also on condition that Uusiku pays N$12 000 to the Police as compensation for the loss of the money.
On the other three charges Uusiku and Kamati were each sentenced to a fine of N$500 or three months’ imprisonment, a fine of N$700 or three months’ imprisonment, and a fine of N$600 or three months’ imprisonment.
Public Prosecutor Ingrid Husselmann represented the State during the trial. Defence lawyer Jan Wessels represented Uusiku, while Charles Visser represented Kamati.
