New claims rock RCC

SEVEN Roads Contractor Company (RCC) employees have been caught up in the fallout from accusations of bribery and fraud levelled by a former secretary against her ex-employer last year.

The RCC management is suspending seven employees on full pay ahead of an investigation of their alleged involvement in “operational irregularities”, the company’s senior human resources manager, Jacob Nghifindaka, said yesterday. Six of the seven were suspended on Friday; another is to be informed of the suspension when he returns from leave.According to Nghifindaka, six of the seven worked in the company’s plant and equipment division, while the other is a junior employee of the finance division in the road-building and maintenance parastatal.Nghifindaka said he would not publicly name the suspended employees at this stage since he did not want to “parade” people who were still presumed innocent.He indicated that the suspensions stemmed from claims made by the ex-secretary in a sworn affidavit whose existence was reported in The Namibian late last year, and in The Windhoek Observer last weekend.”We are taking it in a very, very serious light,” Nghifindaka said.He said the ex-secretary’s claims would be investigated internally and could lead to internal disciplinary proceedings and even, possibly, criminal charges being laid.The late John Terrence [‘Terry’] Booysen’s ex-secretary, Juanita Stutterheim Katsianis, may have opened up a can of worms for the RCC in an effort to defend herself against his accusations that she stole an estimated N$1,2 million from him.In an affidavit dated April 2 last year, she responded to those accusations by citing many instances of alleged bribery, corruption and fraud which she said involved RCC employees and her ex-employer.She claimed that Booysen – who died last May while both a criminal case and a sequestration application he had made against Stutterheim were still before the courts – had used “almost all of his businesses” to defraud third parties of money.As Booysen’s confidante, she had also become involved in these “illegal and fraudulent deals”, her affidavit stated.She claimed that Booysen had devised a scheme whereby he and employees from the RCC or Government Garage would conspire to have Booysen’s businesses submit inflated quotes for work to be done on RCC or Government vehicles.The mechanical jobs embraced by this scheme included work on vehicle radiators and gearboxes.The RCC employees saw to it that the inflated quotes were approved, Stutterheim asserted.She herself had to send monthly invoices to a certain woman in the RCC accounts department, she said – together with biltong or N$1 000 in cash in an unmarked envelope.The purpose of this was to have the invoices processed faster.Her affidavit also accused Booysen of getting the RCC to pay him more than N$100 000 for work falsely claimed to have been done – but not done – on parastatal vehicles.Booysen also got the parastatal to pay him for renting out scaffolding and builders’ equipment lying around at RCC offices, Stutterheim claimed – even though none of these items belonged to him.She alleged that Booysen fleeced another N$100 000 from the RCC in this way, too.Stutterheim also listed occasions when she said Booysen had made substantial cash payments to 12 people employed at the RCC, the Namibian Defence Force, or the Government Garage.These payments – which Stutterheim branded bribes – ranged from as little as N$469, which she said was used to buy biltong and droewors for two RCC employees, to a payout of N$55 000 she said went to another RCC employee in September 2002.Both the bid to have her estate sequestrated so that Booysen could recoup the money he claimed she had stolen from him, and the criminal case, were withdrawn following his death.Six of the seven were suspended on Friday; another is to be informed of the suspension when he returns from leave. According to Nghifindaka, six of the seven worked in the company’s plant and equipment division, while the other is a junior employee of the finance division in the road-building and maintenance parastatal. Nghifindaka said he would not publicly name the suspended employees at this stage since he did not want to “parade” people who were still presumed innocent. He indicated that the suspensions stemmed from claims made by the ex-secretary in a sworn affidavit whose existence was reported in The Namibian late last year, and in The Windhoek Observer last weekend. “We are taking it in a very, very serious light,” Nghifindaka said. He said the ex-secretary’s claims would be investigated internally and could lead to internal disciplinary proceedings and even, possibly, criminal charges being laid. The late John Terrence [‘Terry’] Booysen’s ex-secretary, Juanita Stutterheim Katsianis, may have opened up a can of worms for the RCC in an effort to defend herself against his accusations that she stole an estimated N$1,2 million from him. In an affidavit dated April 2 last year, she responded to those accusations by citing many instances of alleged bribery, corruption and fraud which she said involved RCC employees and her ex-employer. She claimed that Booysen – who died last May while both a criminal case and a sequestration application he had made against Stutterheim were still before the courts – had used “almost all of his businesses” to defraud third parties of money. As Booysen’s confidante, she had also become involved in these “illegal and fraudulent deals”, her affidavit stated. She claimed that Booysen had devised a scheme whereby he and employees from the RCC or Government Garage would conspire to have Booysen’s businesses submit inflated quotes for work to be done on RCC or Government vehicles. The mechanical jobs embraced by this scheme included work on vehicle radiators and gearboxes. The RCC employees saw to it that the inflated quotes were approved, Stutterheim asserted. She herself had to send monthly invoices to a certain woman in the RCC accounts department, she said – together with biltong or N$1 000 in cash in an unmarked envelope. The purpose of this was to have the invoices processed faster. Her affidavit also accused Booysen of getting the RCC to pay him more than N$100 000 for work falsely claimed to have been done – but not done – on parastatal vehicles. Booysen also got the parastatal to pay him for renting out scaffolding and builders’ equipment lying around at RCC offices, Stutterheim claimed – even though none of these items belonged to him. She alleged that Booysen fleeced another N$100 000 from the RCC in this way, too. Stutterheim also listed occasions when she said Booysen had made substantial cash payments to 12 people employed at the RCC, the Namibian Defence Force, or the Government Garage. These payments – which Stutterheim branded bribes – ranged from as little as N$469, which she said was used to buy biltong and droewors for two RCC employees, to a payout of N$55 000 she said went to another RCC employee in September 2002. Both the bid to have her estate sequestrated so that Booysen could recoup the money he claimed she had stolen from him, and the criminal case, were withdrawn following his death.