ACC clears Haimbili

THE Anti-Corruption Commission has exonerated TransNamib Chief Executive Officer Titus Haimbili of all corruption charges levelled against him.

ACC Director Paulus Noa informed Haimbili last week that they had completed the investigation into several allegations of corrupt practices made against him but could not found sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations.’Our file is therefore closed,’ Noa said.The investigation started in June last year.Sources had earlier said that the ACC was asked by the TransNamib board to investigate whether there were any irregularities in Haimbili’s appointment of Albertus !Naruseb as General Manager of Human Resources.The board alleged that Haimbili had appointed him because he was his brother-in-law and that !Naruseb had leapfrogged other interviewees for the job.Haimbili denied the allegation and a company disciplinary hearing chaired by Clement Daniels found him not guilty on that charge.!Naruseb was part of a group of five new key staff members Haimbili had appointed. Others were the General Manager for Finance, the Company Legal Advisor, the General Manager for Marketing and the Chief of Corporate Communication. With the TransNamib Board questioning Haimbili’s powers to appoint, doubt was also cast on the appointments of the other four staff members. Daniels had recommended that Haimbili be dismissed after he was found guilty of acting outside the scope of his authority and his employment contract when he granted himself an interest-free study loan of around N$62 000 without submitting it to the board for approval.Haimbili took the loan at a time when the company had no board. He is claimed to have consulted at least two general managers on the issue. He was found not guilty on five other charges of fraud, corruption and nepotism.According to some sources, Daniels made the recommendation because of a ‘breakdown in trust’ between Haimbili and the board.