ARTHUR Blaauw, brother of Ralph Blaauw of Avid infamy, and his wife have admitted to stealing nearly N$230 000 from their previous employer, Interact, before leaving to join a rival advertising agency, thewinwingroup (Namibia) at the end of 2006.
The couple, who made up two-thirds of thewinwingroup’s BEE shareholding when they broke away from Interact, another advertising agency, have since been dropped from thewinwingroup’s shareholding, which is now dominated by non-Namibian shareholders. Documents seen by The Namibian brought to light an acknowledgement of debt by the Blaauw couple “…as a result of monies misappropriated and/or taken by us without authorisation while in the employment of [Interact].”The Blaauws have ignored several attempts over the past two weeks to obtain comment from them.Interact’s managing partner, Gareth Amos, confirmed to The Namibian that the Blaauw couple had undertaken to repay the money effectively stolen from his business.Amos said they found out about the theft some months after an acrimonious spit between himself and his wife Sonya and the former partners of Interact, Alan Brough and Ulrich Hanstein.”They offered to repay N$700 per month.It will take them something like 49 years,” said Amos, who said he had laid criminal charges and was mulling over other possible legal steps against René and Arthur Blaauw.The Blaauws were minority shareholders in Adonai CC, which was controversially awarded the N$20 million Cell One advertising account last year without any competitive tendering process.Interact, which won the business ahead of top agency DV-8, was abruptly informed that their contract was cancelled.The two-year contract was then awarded to Adonai CC, seemingly on strength of their BEE shareholding consisting of local lawyer Hanstein and the Blaauws.The other shareholders were former Interact MD Alan Brough, a Rhodesian, his wife Diane and South African Beverley Jandrell, a Prisa-accredited public relations person who previously worked under sub-contract to Interact on the Cell One account.Amos said he had laid criminal charges, registered as case CR 2347/2007 with the Nampol Commercial Branch, after it was discovered that large numbers of their creditors were not paid by René Blaauw, who was employed as their bookkeeper from September 2005 to December 2006.During October 2006, Interact went through an acrimonious break-up of the partnership as Brough and Hanstein set up their own, rival advertising agency.Arthur Blaauw, appointed four months earlier, told them he wanted to return to teaching and also tendered his resignation, the Amos couple said.They only realised that something was amiss when René Blaauw, while on sick leave in December 2006, faxed them a sick note – from Adonoi’s fax machine.This led to Blaauw’s immediate suspension, and she resigned shortly afterwards from Interact, Amos said.A forensic audit by accountants C.R.van Wyk in late 2006 brought to light that René Blaauw, who was in charge of their Internet banking, had paid money due to Interact’s suppliers into other bank accounts belonging to family members and friends, an affidavit by Sonya Amos, Financial Controller of Interact stated.In her statement, Amos outlined how René Blaauw had paid an amount of N$85 679.10 between April and December 2006 into accounts held by a certain T.E.Basson, A.A.Blaauw in Keetmanshoop and her own bank accounts via Internet banking.A certain A.J.Hangue, Jacqueline Blaauw and an A.Genis also appeared to have received money via René Blaauw, she said.”To date, the total amount of theft has been determined as N$228 215.92,” Sonya Amos stated.The discovery of the theft, coupled with the sudden departure of key members of their agency, had placed Interact under considerable strain, Amos said.Four months later, Interact’s offices were burgled and all the hard drives from the accounting department’s computers removed – but three laptop computers, digital cameras and other valuable equipment in the same room were left behind, Amos said.The Blaauws could not be reached for comment in spite of several efforts to reach them, as none of their previously listed telephone numbers were still functional.Staff at thewinwingroup said the couple ended their employ there “at least a year ago.”* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587Documents seen by The Namibian brought to light an acknowledgement of debt by the Blaauw couple “…as a result of monies misappropriated and/or taken by us without authorisation while in the employment of [Interact].”The Blaauws have ignored several attempts over the past two weeks to obtain comment from them.Interact’s managing partner, Gareth Amos, confirmed to The Namibian that the Blaauw couple had undertaken to repay the money effectively stolen from his business.Amos said they found out about the theft some months after an acrimonious spit between himself and his wife Sonya and the former partners of Interact, Alan Brough and Ulrich Hanstein.”They offered to repay N$700 per month.It will take them something like 49 years,” said Amos, who said he had laid criminal charges and was mulling over other possible legal steps against René and Arthur Blaauw.The Blaauws were minority shareholders in Adonai CC, which was controversially awarded the N$20 million Cell One advertising account last year without any competitive tendering process.Interact, which won the business ahead of top agency DV-8, was abruptly informed that their contract was cancelled.The two-year contract was then awarded to Adonai CC, seemingly on strength of their BEE shareholding consisting of local lawyer Hanstein and the Blaauws.The other shareholders were former Interact MD Alan Brough, a Rhodesian, his wife Diane and South African Beverley Jandrell, a Prisa-accredited public relations person who previously worked under sub-contract to Interact on the Cell One account. Amos said he had laid criminal charges, registered as case CR 2347/2007 with the Nampol Commercial Branch, after it was discovered that large numbers of their creditors were not paid by René Blaauw, who was employed as their bookkeeper from September 2005 to December 2006.During October 2006, Interact went through an acrimonious break-up of the partnership as Brough and Hanstein set up their own, rival advertising agency.Arthur Blaauw, appointed four months earlier, told them he wanted to return to teaching and also tendered his resignation, the Amos couple said.They only realised that something was amiss when René Blaauw, while on sick leave in December 2006, faxed them a sick note – from Adonoi’s fax machine.This led to Blaauw’s immediate suspension, and she resigned shortly afterwards from Interact, Amos said.A forensic audit by accountants C.R.van Wyk in late 2006 brought to light that René Blaauw, who was in charge of their Internet banking, had paid money due to Interact’s suppliers into other bank accounts belonging to family members and friends, an affidavit by Sonya Amos, Financial Controller of Interact stated.In her statement, Amos outlined how René Blaauw had paid an amount of N$85 679.10 between April and December 2006 into accounts held by a certain T.E.Basson, A.A.Blaauw in Keetmanshoop and her own bank accounts via Internet banking.A certain A.J.Hangue, Jacqueline Blaauw and an A.Genis also appeared to have received money via René Blaauw, she said.”To date, the total amount of theft has been determined as N$228 215.92,” Sonya Amos stated.The discovery of the theft, coupled with the sudden departure of key members of their agency, had placed Interact under considerable strain, Amos said. Four months later, Interact’s offices were burgled and all the hard drives from the accounting department’s computers removed – but three laptop computers, digital cameras and other valuable equipment in the same room were left behind, Amos said.The Blaauws could not be reached for comment in spite of several efforts to reach them, as none of their previously listed telephone numbers were still functional.Staff at thewinwingroup said the couple ended their employ there “at least a year ago.”* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587
