Former cop grilled in Munyama case

INFORMATION provided to the investigating officer in the Gerry Munyama fraud case that the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) owed no money to Khomas Engineering CC aroused suspicion as to why two cheques had been made out to this company.

Former Police officer Willem Olivier, who is now working for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), yesterday testified in the trial of former NBC director general Munyama and Engelbrecht Theodor in the High Court in Windhoek.He said he had requested proof from Theodor, who was a member of Khomas Engineering, about allegedly outstanding payments for services rendered by Khomas Engineering, and Theodor could not produce such proof.Olivier said Theodor was initially questioned as a witness in the fraud, forgery and uttering case against Munyama, but he was arrested as a suspect in 2007 – almost two years after Munyama.The prosecution is alleging that two cheques, totalling N$244 750, drawn on an NBC bank account, were paid into the account of Khomas Engineering and that this money was later withdrawn by Theodor for alleged personal use by him and Munyama.Olivier maintained that, according to the then internal auditor of the NBC, Hendrik Jacobs, the corporation had paid all money due to Khomas Engineering.Under cross-examination, Olivier admitted that he was unable to match the two cheques with the documentation provided to him by the NBC. As a result, he requested the corporation’s financial manager to compile a reconciliation. It further emerged that Olivier did not record which documents he had handed back to the NBC for the purposes of this reconciliation. He told Judge Kato van Niekerk in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday afternoon that he had just made a mental note of what documents were given back to him after the reconciliation was completed.Olivier also came under fire from Gerson Hinda, on behalf of Theodor, for only being interested in the two cheques that had been paid from the NBC Executive Account to Khomas Engineering – one for N$97 750 and one for N$147 000. Hinda said if Olivier had inspected the rest of the enterprise’s bank statements, he would have noticed that it was common practice to immediately withdraw money after a cheque had been deposited into its account.Olivier admitted that Theodor had told him the money was meant for salaries and creditors.In a four-page statement, Munyama, the former NBC boss, on Monday admitted that he had opened the NBC Executive Account without the authorisation of the NBC board. He admitted that he had used a forged board resolution to open the account with Standard Bank.Apart from the N$244 750 for which he had made out cheques to Khomas Engineering, Munyama offered no explanation about what he had done with N$100 720 which he also withdrew from the NBC Executive Account between June 3 and November 15 2005.The trial is scheduled to continue this morning with a cross-examination of Cheryl Anna Jankowski, a Standard Bank employee.Munyama is represented by Boris Isaacks, while State Advocate Ed Marondedze is handling the prosecution.