THE Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday arrested a former assistant town engineer of Gobabis Municipality on charges of corruption after he awarded a tender to his relatives.
During October-November 2007, the Gobabis Municipality invited a tender for the supply of certain electrical materials.
Charles Benjamin Jacobs (43) was responsible for listing and preparing the tender documents of all the companies that applied and for submitting them to the tender board.
It is alleged that he immediately registered a company called HCE Electrical Materials in the name of Hennerretta Catharina Jacobs (his mother), Ellen Grobler (his sister) and Charles Albertus Jacobs (his son).
The company submitted a bid and was awarded the tender to the value of N$348 729.
The Gobabis Municipality issued a cheque to HCE Electrical Materials for the amount of N$348 729.
The ACC said it was discovered afterwards that Jacobs had manipulated the tender documents of other companies in order to ensure that the company owned by his relatives was the only one that met the requirements.
The cheque was immediately stopped before it could be cashed.
Jacobs offered his resignation from the Municipality.
The ACC said it had been investigating the allegations since 2008 and a docket was submitted to the Prosecutor General with recommendations that Jacobs be charged.
He was arrested yesterday morning and appeared before the Gobabis Magistrate’s Court. Jacobs is out on bail of N$8 000.
The case was transferred to the Regional Court for trial.
He will appear for plea and trial in the Regional Court on Monday.
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