Four busted for hospital tender fraud

THREE public servants and one businessman will appear in Windhoek’s Regional Court today after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested them yesterday on six charges of fraud and corruption to the tune of over N$1,4 million.

THREE public servants and one businessman will appear in Windhoek’s Regional Court today after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested them yesterday on six charges of fraud and corruption to the tune of over N$1,4 million.Three of the accused are employees at the Ministry of Health and Social Services. They are Derek Jansen (procurement clerk), Simon Iipinge (clerk) and Nicolaas van Wyk (accountant). The fourth man is Johannes Jarson, the owner of GioIa Building Construction.It is alleged that between October and December 2007, the three civil servants ‘corruptly conspired or acted in concert with Jarson’ to defraud the ministry of N$1 413 191 by submitting false or forged documents in respect of alterations done at the Eenhana State Hospital and Otjituuo Clinic.The ACC statement said the accused created the impression that the tender for the work was awarded to GioIa Building Construction and that it actually carried out the work. ‘The accused persons however at all times knew that GioIa Building Construction did not tender and was never awarded the tender and that the documents were falsified or forged. The payments processed on false documentation were deposited into the bank account of GioIa Construction,’ the statement read.The ACC has been investigating the case since 2009.