Key suspects’ added to Telecom case

WINDHOEK businessman Heinz Dresselhaus and a former Telecom Namibia General Manager, James Camm, have been released on bail of N$20 000 each after they were arrested on Friday on a charge of fraud related to the sale of scrap copper by the telecommunications parastatal.

The 51-year-old Dresselhaus and Camm (50), who is also a former co-President of the Namibia Rugby Union, made a first appearance before Magistrate Thomas Kanime in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday morning. The two men were arrested after they had reported to the Police’s Commercial Crime Unit earlier in the day.Dresselhaus, whose business interests include a share in Dresselhaus Scrap CC – a close corporation that stands at the centre of the allegations of fraud and corruption that led to his and Camm’s arrest – and Camm were each granted bail of N$20 000.They have been told to return to court on July 6.Public Prosecutor Lino Dingou asked the Magistrate for a postponement to that date for the Prosecutor General to decide on the further prosecution of the case.Chances are that they may be added to the case in which a business partner of Dresselhaus, Etienne Weakley, already faces 13 counts of fraud in the High Court.Weakley is set to go on trial on September 5.There is, however, also a possibility that the charges against Weakley may be amplified in the wake of the arrest of Dresselhaus and Camm.Weakley was charged together with a former Telecom Namibia procurement Manager, Ivan Ganes, who was extradited from South Africa on 13 counts of fraud in late October last year.Ganes can only be prosecuted in Namibia on the charges on which Namibia asked for his extradition – a limitation that will not apply to Dresselhaus, Camm or Weakley.Camm was Telecom Namibia’s General Manager of Consumer Services until his dismissal in mid-April because of allegations of his involvement.The arrest of Dresselhaus and Camm came 18 days after Ganes pleaded guilty to all charges that he faced in the High Court.Ganes told Judge Kato van Niekerk that Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley were his co-conspirators in a scheme that enabled Dresselhaus Scrap CC to pay fraudulently reduced prices for scrap copper wire it was buying from Telecom Namibia.The difference between the prices the firm was supposed to pay Telecom and the reduced price which Ganes said he charged the firm, was split between him, Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley, Ganes told the Judge.They also shared in proceeds from a second leg of the scheme Ganes said they had worked out.On that score, he credited Dresselhaus Scrap CC with labour costs connected to its removal of scrap copper wire from Telecom’s obsolete phone network, whereas the firm’s agreement with Telecom did not provide for removal costs.Ganes told the Judge that he received his share of the proceeds from the scam in cash from Weakley, and on occasion also from Heinz Dresselhaus.He added that he also received cheques from either Weakley himself, or Dresselhaus Scrap CC, or from Kuranje Scrap, which was a scrap dealership run by Weakley.Ganes related that he was first approached by Camm to become a partner in the scheme.Without Camm’s involvement, they would not have been able to pull off the scam in the first place, Ganes told the Judge.Ganes admitted that he received some N$161 000 from the scam, which caused losses of some N$1,125 million to Telecom.Those figures however relate only to the 13 charges on which Ganes has pleaded guilty.The 13 counts cover a period between March and December 2000.The scrap copper sale agreement which developed into the alleged corruption was however concluded in October 1997 already.The two men were arrested after they had reported to the Police’s Commercial Crime Unit earlier in the day.Dresselhaus, whose business interests include a share in Dresselhaus Scrap CC – a close corporation that stands at the centre of the allegations of fraud and corruption that led to his and Camm’s arrest – and Camm were each granted bail of N$20 000.They have been told to return to court on July 6.Public Prosecutor Lino Dingou asked the Magistrate for a postponement to that date for the Prosecutor General to decide on the further prosecution of the case. Chances are that they may be added to the case in which a business partner of Dresselhaus, Etienne Weakley, already faces 13 counts of fraud in the High Court.Weakley is set to go on trial on September 5.There is, however, also a possibility that the charges against Weakley may be amplified in the wake of the arrest of Dresselhaus and Camm.Weakley was charged together with a former Telecom Namibia procurement Manager, Ivan Ganes, who was extradited from South Africa on 13 counts of fraud in late October last year.Ganes can only be prosecuted in Namibia on the charges on which Namibia asked for his extradition – a limitation that will not apply to Dresselhaus, Camm or Weakley.Camm was Telecom Namibia’s General Manager of Consumer Services until his dismissal in mid-April because of allegations of his involvement.The arrest of Dresselhaus and Camm came 18 days after Ganes pleaded guilty to all charges that he faced in the High Court.Ganes told Judge Kato van Niekerk that Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley were his co-conspirators in a scheme that enabled Dresselhaus Scrap CC to pay fraudulently reduced prices for scrap copper wire it was buying from Telecom Namibia.The difference between the prices the firm was supposed to pay Telecom and the reduced price which Ganes said he charged the firm, was split between him, Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley, Ganes told the Judge.They also shared in proceeds from a second leg of the scheme Ganes said they had worked out.On that score, he credited Dresselhaus Scrap CC with labour costs connected to its removal of scrap copper wire from Telecom’s obsolete phone network, whereas the firm’s agreement with Telecom did not provide for removal costs.Ganes told the Judge that he received his share of the proceeds from the scam in cash from Weakley, and on occasion also from Heinz Dresselhaus.He added that he also received cheques from either Weakley himself, or Dresselhaus Scrap CC, or from Kuranje Scrap, which was a scrap dealership run by Weakley.Ganes related that he was first approached by Camm to become a partner in the scheme.Without Camm’s involvement, they would not have been able to pull off the scam in the first place, Ganes told the Judge.Ganes admitted that he received some N$161 000 from the scam, which caused losses of some N$1,125 million to Telecom.Those figures however relate only to the 13 charges on which Ganes has pleaded guilty.The 13 counts cover a period between March and December 2000.The scrap copper sale agreement which developed into the alleged corruption was however concluded in October 1997 already.