Stage set for Namfisa clash

ALL systems are go for the disciplinary hearing of Namfisa CEO Rainer Ritter, which is set to start early next month.

The Namibian learned that the date for the hearing has been set for Monday, May 11, and will last until Friday, May 15.Ritter is facing charges based on the preliminary findings of an Ernst and Young investigation into allegations of irregularities at the financial watchdog. He was suspended on March 10, immediately following a one-month leave of absence granted by Namfisa’s board of directors ‘for health reasons’.Profysen Muluti of Muluti & Partners Legal Practitioners, the instructing attorney for Namfisa, confirmed on Wednesday the dates for the disciplinary hearing, and told The Namibian that a chairperson has been confirmed for the panel. He said the panel will consist of the chairperson, the prosecution and the defence, explaining that a disciplinary hearing is different from a court trial in the sense that a court trial is public, while a hearing is a private affair.Muluti, who said he is neither the chairperson nor the prosecutor in this case, would not reveal the names of the parties involved in the panel at this stage. The Namibian recently learnt, reliably, that Advocate Gerson Narib would head the panel, but neither Narib nor Namfisa Board Chairperson Rick Kukuri would confirm or deny this at the time. Muluti, too, would not say whether this was the case.Neither would he disclose the charges that Ritter is facing.’After the hearing starts, we might be able to disclose the charges, but we can’t divulge anything before Ritter has had an opportunity to answer on the allegations.’Asked how many charges were being dealt with in the hearing, Muluti again said: ‘On our part, we can’t divulge any information related to the allegations because Ritter has the right of being presumed innocent until proven guilty. As such, we are protecting his dignity and integrity and it would be premature at this point to go into the merits of the hearing.’At this stage, according to reliable sources, the charges appear to relate to administrative issues.When contacted for comment, Ritter would not disclose the nature or number of charges he faces, but said he is innocent. ‘I am defending myself in this case,’ he told The Namibian. ‘Advocate Dave Smuts will be defending me during the hearing,’ said Ritter, whose month’s leave before his suspension was preceded by reports that he and his family had been provided with 24-hour Police protection following threats to their lives after he had got wind of irregularities at Namfisa from 2006 onwards.nangula@namibian.com.na