Goabab trial set for next year

FORMER National Assembly Secretary Nama Goabab and a co-accused in the case in which they are facing charges of corruption will be waiting for almost a year still for the start of their trial.

Goabab (51) and Abraham John George (48), an accountant at the National Assembly, were told during their latest pre-trial appearance in the High Court on Thursday last week that their trial is scheduled to begin only on March 23 next year. Court dates up to April 15 have been reserved for the trial.Goabab and George have both indicated that they will be pleading not guilty at the start of their trial.They are facing an indictment containing three charges, of which one is against Goabab alone.Together, Goabab and George are charged with two main counts of corruptly using their offices or positions for gratification, alternatively fraud and fraud or theft respectively. Those charges relate to allegations that they had rented two vehicles at Government expense for Goabab’s personal use.Goabab alone is also accused of corruptly using his office or position for gratification, alternatively using a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.That charge stems from an incident when Goabab was found using a Government-owned vehicle on May 25 2007, allegedly while he did not have the necessary permission to use the car.In the indictment it is alleged that Goabab, as a member of the management cadre of the Public Service of Namibia, received a government motor vehicle allowance.It is also alleged that he and George, who is an accountant with the National Assembly, on March 1 and March 15 2007 ‘acted in concert to engage in corrupt practices’.On March 1 2007, it is alleged, the two accused men used a Government purchase order to hire a vehicle from Budget Rent-a-Car for 15 days. The vehicle was hired at a rate of N$5 055, whereas the normal private rental rate would have been N$6 780, it is alleged.It is charged that Goabab and George created a false impression that the vehicle was for official use, while they knew it was being rented for their use.In the second charge it is alleged that Goabab and George had similarly rented a vehicle from Budget Rent-a-Car between March 15 and April 24 2007 at a cost of N$18 497, and that a cheque of the National Assembly was used to pay for this rental while they knew the vehicle was used for private instead of official purposes.After his arrest on June 8 2007, Goabab told The Namibian that there was no fraudulent intention on his part when the vehicles were rented while his own vehicle was out of order. He said that he had asked the person responsible for finance and administration in his office to settle the rental account and deduct this payment from his salary, and that if this had not been done in the end, it must have been as a result of human error.Goabab, whose employment as the National Assembly’s top administrative official ended in October last year after a tenure of almost two years, is free on bail of N$5 000. George is free on bail of N$3 000.