Telecom suspect is extradited from SA

A N$1 million-plus fraud case involving former Telecom Namibia Procurement Manager Ivan Ganes came full circle last week, when Ganes re-appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court after an absence of more than three years.

Not only three years and four months, but also N$100 000 in forfeited bail money, had passed into history by the time Ganes returned on Thursday afternoon to the same courthouse where he had been granted bail of N$100 000 on a charge of fraud in June 2001. Ganes had been a fugitive on the run from the Namibian justice system since mid-July 2001, when he skipped the country to take up refuge in South Africa.He jumped his bail while having a fraud charge, in which he was accused of having played a part in defrauding his then employers, Telecom Namibia, of some N$1,1 million, pending against him.Extradition proceedings to have him returned to Namibia were launched in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court early this year, Dennis Khama from the Ministry of Justice told The Namibian on Thursday.Ganes opposed Namibia’s extradition request, but waived options to appeal or further challenge the extradition request after a Cape Town Magistrate ruled on Wednesday that he was liable to be surrendered to Namibia, said Khama, who is tasked with extradition issues in the Justice Ministry.By early Wednesday evening, Ganes had landed in Namibia on a flight from South Africa.On Thursday, his defence counsel, Nate Ndauendapo, made a point of telling Magistrate Peter Kavaongelwa at Ganes’s first post-return court appearance that Ganes had consented to be extradited to Namibia.Public Prosecutor Christopher Stanley asked the Magistrate to remand Ganes in custody until his next scheduled court appearance on November 24, when he would also be asked to plead to the charge that he faces.In the meantime, the case of a former co-accused of Ganes, Windhoek scrap metal dealer Etienne Johan Weakley, will also be placed back on the court roll, probably by this week, Stanley added.The case against Weakley had remained in limbo in the more than three years that Ganes had been gone from Namibia.The two men were first arrested and charged around the middle of 2001.They were accused of having embezzled some N$1,1 million from Telecom Namibia.This is supposed to have taken place through Ganes having used his position at the telecommunications parastatal to sell scrap materials of Telecom to Weakley – then employed at Dresselhaus Scrap – at manipulated, artificially low prices.In return, Telecom has alleged, Ganes received some N$444 655 in bribes or “secret commissions” from Weakley/Dresselhaus.Ganes has also been accused of having cost Telecom Namibia some N$4,2 million through fraudulent activities on his part between 1995 and early 2001, during which he allegedly received as much as N$3,6 million in bribes or “secret commissions” from other companies with which Telecom Namibia was doing business.Ganes has not yet had an opportunity to answer to those allegations in a Namibian court.By November 24, he should get his chance to do so, though.Ganes had been a fugitive on the run from the Namibian justice system since mid-July 2001, when he skipped the country to take up refuge in South Africa.He jumped his bail while having a fraud charge, in which he was accused of having played a part in defrauding his then employers, Telecom Namibia, of some N$1,1 million, pending against him.Extradition proceedings to have him returned to Namibia were launched in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court early this year, Dennis Khama from the Ministry of Justice told The Namibian on Thursday.Ganes opposed Namibia’s extradition request, but waived options to appeal or further challenge the extradition request after a Cape Town Magistrate ruled on Wednesday that he was liable to be surrendered to Namibia, said Khama, who is tasked with extradition issues in the Justice Ministry.By early Wednesday evening, Ganes had landed in Namibia on a flight from South Africa.On Thursday, his defence counsel, Nate Ndauendapo, made a point of telling Magistrate Peter Kavaongelwa at Ganes’s first post-return court appearance that Ganes had consented to be extradited to Namibia.Public Prosecutor Christopher Stanley asked the Magistrate to remand Ganes in custody until his next scheduled court appearance on November 24, when he would also be asked to plead to the charge that he faces.In the meantime, the case of a former co-accused of Ganes, Windhoek scrap metal dealer Etienne Johan Weakley, will also be placed back on the court roll, probably by this week, Stanley added.The case against Weakley had remained in limbo in the more than three years that Ganes had been gone from Namibia.The two men were first arrested and charged around the middle of 2001.They were accused of having embezzled some N$1,1 million from Telecom Namibia.This is supposed to have taken place through Ganes having used his position at the telecommunications parastatal to sell scrap materials of Telecom to Weakley – then employed at Dresselhaus Scrap – at manipulated, artificially low prices.In return, Telecom has alleged, Ganes received some N$444 655 in bribes or “secret commissions” from Weakley/Dresselhaus.Ganes has also been accused of having cost Telecom Namibia some N$4,2 million through fraudulent activities on his part between 1995 and early 2001, during which he allegedly received as much as N$3,6 million in bribes or “secret commissions” from other companies with which Telecom Namibia was doing business.Ganes has not yet had an opportunity to answer to those allegations in a Namibian court.By November 24, he should get his chance to do so, though.