Someone else filed meat complaint: ACC

THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) did not notify the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) of the outcome of its investigation into allegations against the Justice Minister because it was not the NSHR that had lodged the complaint, ACC Director Paulus Noa said this week.

“The ACC notified the person who lodged the complaint. The person concerned never informed the ACC that he was lodging the complaint on behalf of the NSHR,” Noa said in a statement.The ACC chief said the ACC immediately started with its investigation after the complaint was lodged on January 22.At the time the complaint was made, there was already a team of investigators in the Omuthiya area probing separate allegations of corruption, he said “Some of these allegations were lodged through the office of the NSHR and the ACC has already furnished its findings to the NSHR being the office through which the allegations were reported to ACC.This was done on February 6 2008,” said Noa.Earlier in the week, the NSHR dismissed a statement by the ACC, which said that no laws were broken in awarding the Ha-Na-He butchery contract to supply meat to resorts in the Etosha National Park.The Ha-Na-He butchery at Omuthiya is owned by Justice Minister, Attorney General and Swapo Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and her husband, Josef Ithana.The NSHR had questioned whether it constituted a conflict of interest – and alleged corruption – for a Cabinet Minister to be awarded a contract by a State-owned company.NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh dismissed the ACC statement as a whitewash, and said the investigation was finalised much too quickly and that the NSHR was not informed of the findings.He said the investigation was over before the NSHR could even lodge a formal complaint – the human rights body’s initial response to the issue was in the form of a press statement and not a formal complaint.”The alleged investigation of … our hitherto non-existent complaint plus the lighting speed with which the ACC investigation had been conducted are extremely suspect and amount to gross misconduct on the part of the ACC leaders,” Ya Nangoloh said.According to Noa, when the NSHR issued a press release on February 10 calling on the ACC to investigate the matter, it was already under investigation.”Our investigation was based on the formal complaint that was lodged with our office on January 22 2008 and not on the press release by the NSHR which was only issued on February 10,” said Noa.The person concerned never informed the ACC that he was lodging the complaint on behalf of the NSHR,” Noa said in a statement.The ACC chief said the ACC immediately started with its investigation after the complaint was lodged on January 22.At the time the complaint was made, there was already a team of investigators in the Omuthiya area probing separate allegations of corruption, he said “Some of these allegations were lodged through the office of the NSHR and the ACC has already furnished its findings to the NSHR being the office through which the allegations were reported to ACC.This was done on February 6 2008,” said Noa.Earlier in the week, the NSHR dismissed a statement by the ACC, which said that no laws were broken in awarding the Ha-Na-He butchery contract to supply meat to resorts in the Etosha National Park.The Ha-Na-He butchery at Omuthiya is owned by Justice Minister, Attorney General and Swapo Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and her husband, Josef Ithana.The NSHR had questioned whether it constituted a conflict of interest – and alleged corruption – for a Cabinet Minister to be awarded a contract by a State-owned company.NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh dismissed the ACC statement as a whitewash, and said the investigation was finalised much too quickly and that the NSHR was not informed of the findings.He said the investigation was over before the NSHR could even lodge a formal complaint – the human rights body’s initial response to the issue was in the form of a press statement and not a formal complaint.”The alleged investigation of … our hitherto non-existent complaint plus the lighting speed with which the ACC investigation had been conducted are extremely suspect and amount to gross misconduct on the part of the ACC leaders,” Ya Nangoloh said.According to Noa, when the NSHR issued a press release on February 10 calling on the ACC to investigate the matter, it was already under investigation.”Our investigation was based on the formal complaint that was lodged with our office on January 22 2008 and not on the press release by the NSHR which was only issued on February 10,” said Noa.