Jet-setting regional official blows budget

THE Karas Regional Council’s Chief Regional Officer, Salmaan Jacobs, has exhausted his annual travel allowance in just two and a half months.

Council budgeted N$850 000 for subsistence and travel allowances for the fiscal year 2007-2008, of which N$29 988 was earmarked for Jacobs’s travel budget. The Namibian has been reliably informed that each staff member and each regional councillor is allocated a share from the total budget.The travel budget allocations to Council staff members, including regional councillors, vary from N$4 000 to N$36 000 a year.By mid-June – just two and a half months into the 2007-2008 fiscal year – Jacobs had already exceeded his travel budget by N$2 000.According to financial statements seen by The Namibian, in April alone Jacobs submitted travel expense claims of N$13 069.In June he submitted claims for N$14 158.Between April and mid-June, he submitted 18 claims for travel expenses, the statements showed.Jacobs is currently out on bail after being arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations related to N$49 000 he claimed in travel expenses following an all-expenses-paid, month-long trip to Germany.When approached for comment yesterday, Karas Governor Dawid Boois confirmed the overspending on Jacobs’s travel budget.Boois refused to divulge more details, but said the Regional Council regarded it in a serious light and would definitely address the matter as soon as possible.Jacobs’s overspending on travel and the Warmbad Hot Springs project will top the agenda at a Council meeting scheduled for this week, The Namibian was reliably informed.When approached for comment yesterday, Jacobs put the phone down in the reporter’s ear.The Namibian has been reliably informed that each staff member and each regional councillor is allocated a share from the total budget.The travel budget allocations to Council staff members, including regional councillors, vary from N$4 000 to N$36 000 a year.By mid-June – just two and a half months into the 2007-2008 fiscal year – Jacobs had already exceeded his travel budget by N$2 000. According to financial statements seen by The Namibian, in April alone Jacobs submitted travel expense claims of N$13 069.In June he submitted claims for N$14 158.Between April and mid-June, he submitted 18 claims for travel expenses, the statements showed.Jacobs is currently out on bail after being arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations related to N$49 000 he claimed in travel expenses following an all-expenses-paid, month-long trip to Germany.When approached for comment yesterday, Karas Governor Dawid Boois confirmed the overspending on Jacobs’s travel budget.Boois refused to divulge more details, but said the Regional Council regarded it in a serious light and would definitely address the matter as soon as possible.Jacobs’s overspending on travel and the Warmbad Hot Springs project will top the agenda at a Council meeting scheduled for this week, The Namibian was reliably informed.When approached for comment yesterday, Jacobs put the phone down in the reporter’s ear.