Key figure in SSC fraud case denies guilt

FORMER Social Security Commission employee Maxwell Spanneberg yesterday pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud connected to claims that he used his position to have scores of fictional claims paid out for his own benefit.

Just over N$432 000 is alleged to have been paid out by the SSC between April 21 2005 and September 8 2006 as a result of fictional sick-leave claims that Spanneberg had processed and approved while he was employed at the parastatal, it is said in the indictment to which Spanneberg pleaded yesterday. “I plead not guilty,” Spanneberg (29) told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura after Public Prosecutor Roxzaan Witbooi had read out the fraud charge and alternative count of theft.In a written plea statement that Spanneberg’s lawyer, Jan Wessels, handed to the Magistrate, Spanneberg stated that he was denying each and every allegation in the charges.”The broader basis of my defence will be put to state witnesses in the event that I am prosecuted,” Spanneberg also stated in the document.Following his plea, the case against Spanneberg was postponed to November 28 for the Prosecutor General’s decision on the matter to be taken.Spanneberg and 63 co-accused, who made a joint appearance in court with him on Wednesday last week, will have to appear together in court again on that date.Spanneberg’s co-accused have not yet been asked to give their pleas to the charge.Witbooi told the Magistrate yesterday that smaller amounts of money are involved in the charges faced by the other accused than in the allegations against Spanneberg.It is alleged that the supposedly fictional sick-leave claims were made in the names of Spanneberg’s co-accused.The money that was then paid to these people, eventually found its way into Spanneberg’s own pockets as well, it is alleged.The amounts paid to the other accused varied from as much as N$37 800 and N$20 791,24, which were the two highest figures claimed to have been paid out, to the lowest figure of N$3 185,95.According to the SSC, Spanneberg was employed in the Registry Division at the SSC’s head office in Windhoek.It is suspected that he had used the computer passwords of other staff members to lodge, process and authorise fraudulent sick-leave claims, the SSC claimed when it announced his suspension and dismissal late last year.Spanneberg was suspended from his post on August 30 last year, when a full-scale investigation of his alleged activities was ordered.The SSC dismissed him on November 2, after he had been found guilty of misconduct following a disciplinary hearing, the SSC stated.Spanneberg was arrested and charged criminally 10 days later.He spent a month in Police custody before he was granted bail of N$15 000.He remains free on bail.”I plead not guilty,” Spanneberg (29) told Magistrate Helvi Shilemba in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura after Public Prosecutor Roxzaan Witbooi had read out the fraud charge and alternative count of theft. In a written plea statement that Spanneberg’s lawyer, Jan Wessels, handed to the Magistrate, Spanneberg stated that he was denying each and every allegation in the charges.”The broader basis of my defence will be put to state witnesses in the event that I am prosecuted,” Spanneberg also stated in the document.Following his plea, the case against Spanneberg was postponed to November 28 for the Prosecutor General’s decision on the matter to be taken.Spanneberg and 63 co-accused, who made a joint appearance in court with him on Wednesday last week, will have to appear together in court again on that date.Spanneberg’s co-accused have not yet been asked to give their pleas to the charge.Witbooi told the Magistrate yesterday that smaller amounts of money are involved in the charges faced by the other accused than in the allegations against Spanneberg.It is alleged that the supposedly fictional sick-leave claims were made in the names of Spanneberg’s co-accused.The money that was then paid to these people, eventually found its way into Spanneberg’s own pockets as well, it is alleged.The amounts paid to the other accused varied from as much as N$37 800 and N$20 791,24, which were the two highest figures claimed to have been paid out, to the lowest figure of N$3 185,95.According to the SSC, Spanneberg was employed in the Registry Division at the SSC’s head office in Windhoek.It is suspected that he had used the computer passwords of other staff members to lodge, process and authorise fraudulent sick-leave claims, the SSC claimed when it announced his suspension and dismissal late last year.Spanneberg was suspended from his post on August 30 last year, when a full-scale investigation of his alleged activities was ordered.The SSC dismissed him on November 2, after he had been found guilty of misconduct following a disciplinary hearing, the SSC stated.Spanneberg was arrested and charged criminally 10 days later.He spent a month in Police custody before he was granted bail of N$15 000.He remains free on bail.