Accused former senior Unam staff members deny theft

A FORMER Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia and the ex-head of the university’s computer centre on Friday pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing 12 computers from the institution a year ago.

The former Pro Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research, Professor Geoffrey Kiangi, and former head of Unam’s computer centre, Kaggere Suresh, claim the computers were sold to Kiangi’s wife in a legitimate transaction. Kiangi and Suresh’s claim is set out in written plea explanations submitted to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.Defence lawyer Louis Botes, representing both Kiangi (49) and Suresh (43), handed their plea statements to Magistrate Sarel Jacobs after both men had pleaded not guilty to a charge of theft.They are accused of stealing 12 personal computers and other equipment, valued at N$69 222, from Unam on March 10 2006.Kiangi and Suresh were arrested and charged on March 14 last year.They were released on bail of N$7 000 each on the same day.Their appearance in court on Friday was the seventh since their arrest.Kiangi and Suresh were both suspended as a result of the charge against them.The university dismissed Suresh on July 14, after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of fraud, abuse of power and authority and unauthorised use of Unam property for private purposes.Kiangi resigned in early August, before a disciplinary hearing against him could be concluded.After his resignation, a letter was sent to the Prosecutor General on behalf of the university’s Council to ask that the charge against Kiangi be withdrawn, as the matter between him and Unam had been “resolved amicably”.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa decided to continue with the prosecution, however.In his plea explanation, Kiangi says he resigned because the employment relationship between him and Unam had broken down irretrievably.The reason, he claimed, was because he and Suresh had been incorrectly accused of theft.Both Kiangi and Suresh state in their plea explanations that Unam’s Vice Chancellor had in the past encouraged the computer centre to become engaged in income-generation activities.The Vice Chancellor, Professor Lazarus Hangula, was present at an informal meeting in his office that was also attended by Kiangi, Suresh, and an advisor of Hangula, Professor Palicherala Govinda Reddy, on January 19 last year, the two men claim.At this meeting, an idea was discussed that the computer centre should assemble and sell computers to individuals, including people from outside Unam, in a bid to raise funds for the university, they claim.This concept was strongly supported by Hangula, and Kiangi at the same meeting indicated that he would buy 12 computers for a training centre that his wife planned to open, Kiangi says.A copy of an affidavit from Reddy in which he backs this version of events is attached to each of the two plea statements.”The computers furthermore were openly assembled in the computer centre by its staff and thereafter, in broad daylight, loaded onto a vehicle of Unam, for which a proper request for transport had been made out,” Kiangi and Suresh both state.The computers were then, accompanied by a completed gate permit and one of the computer centre’s technicians, taken through the security control point at the entrance to the Unam campus, Suresh states.While staff members from the computer centre were at the premises of the training centre where the computers were taken and where the installing of the computers had started, members of Unam’s security staff and the Namibian Police arrived and Kiangi and Suresh were accused of theft, they state further.Kiangi’s wife also arrived there with the purpose of paying for the equipment, but because of the turn of events the payment was not made, the two men claim.Kiangi and Suresh now have to appear in court again on May 28.Their case was postponed until then in order for the Prosecutor General to take a decision on the further course of the prosecution against them.Kiangi and Suresh’s claim is set out in written plea explanations submitted to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.Defence lawyer Louis Botes, representing both Kiangi (49) and Suresh (43), handed their plea statements to Magistrate Sarel Jacobs after both men had pleaded not guilty to a charge of theft.They are accused of stealing 12 personal computers and other equipment, valued at N$69 222, from Unam on March 10 2006.Kiangi and Suresh were arrested and charged on March 14 last year.They were released on bail of N$7 000 each on the same day.Their appearance in court on Friday was the seventh since their arrest.Kiangi and Suresh were both suspended as a result of the charge against them.The university dismissed Suresh on July 14, after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of fraud, abuse of power and authority and unauthorised use of Unam property for private purposes.Kiangi resigned in early August, before a disciplinary hearing against him could be concluded.After his resignation, a letter was sent to the Prosecutor General on behalf of the university’s Council to ask that the charge against Kiangi be withdrawn, as the matter between him and Unam had been “resolved amicably”.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa decided to continue with the prosecution, however.In his plea explanation, Kiangi says he resigned because the employment relationship between him and Unam had broken down irretrievably.The reason, he claimed, was because he and Suresh had been incorrectly accused of theft.Both Kiangi and Suresh state in their plea explanations that Unam’s Vice Chancellor had in the past encouraged the computer centre to become engaged in income-generation activities.The Vice Chancellor, Professor Lazarus Hangula, was present at an informal meeting in his office that was also attended by Kiangi, Suresh, and an advisor of Hangula, Professor Palicherala Govinda Reddy, on January 19 last year, the two men claim.At this meeting, an idea was discussed that the computer centre should assemble and sell computers to individuals, including people from outside Unam, in a bid to raise funds for the university, they claim.This concept was strongly supported by Hangula, and Kiangi at the same meeting indicated that he would buy 12 computers for a training centre that his wife planned to open, Kiangi says.A copy of an affidavit from Reddy in which he backs this version of events is attached to each of the two plea statements.”The computers furthermore were openly assembled in the computer centre by its staff and thereafter, in broad daylight, loaded onto a vehicle of Unam, for which a proper request for transport had been made out,” Kiangi and Suresh both state.The computers were then, accompanied by a completed gate permit and one of the computer centre’s technicians, taken through the security control point at the entrance to the Unam campus, Suresh states.While staff members from the computer centre were at the premises of the training centre where the computers were taken and where the installing of the computers had started, members of Unam’s security staff and the Namibian Police arrived and Kiangi and Suresh were accused of theft, they state further.Kiangi’s wife also arrived there with the purpose of paying for the equipment, but because of the turn of events the payment was not made, the two men claim.Kiangi and Suresh now have to appear in court again on May 28.Their case was postponed until then in order for the Prosecutor General to take a decision on the further course of the prosecution against them.