Banner Left
Banner Right

Top Prisons official held

Top Prisons official held

A DEPUTY Commissioner of Prisons, Nelzin (‘Melvin’) Martin, has been arrested in connection with an ongoing fraud investigation involving the Ministry’s Entertainment Fund, Permanent Secretary of Safety and Security Peter Mwatile has confirmed to The Namibian.

But questions continue to linger over an ongoing investigation, as other sources insisted that more top officials were alleged to be involved. Mwatile insisted, however, that so far only Martin had been identified as a suspect.”We have identified him as the key suspect, and the Police executed a warrant of arrest for him,” Mwatile said.Martin, who was attached to the Directorate of Support Services, is expected to reappear in court on November 1.He was granted bail of N$20 000 in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday, August 22.Mwatile noted that the Entertainment Fund was in fact a statutory trust, which is regulated by the Prison Regulations as gazetted on November 6 2001, and as set out under the Prisons Act (Act 13 of 1998).All estimated 1 500 prison warders contribute to this fund.The lowest-paid members have N$20 deducted from their salaries every month, while higher-paid members pay more, he said.Mwatile could not give a figure for the total monthly contributions, but said the total figure collected since 1998 could run into millions.The fund is administered by a board of trustees (of which Martin was a member) and is used to fund entertainment facilities at all prisons in Namibia, Mwatile explained.”It also gets used for year-end parties and [loans] when members run into cash-flow problems,” Mwatile said.”But members borrowing from the fund have to pay the money back.”It would appear, however, that the fund had lent heavily to some individuals who never paid anything back, as it had inexplicably become depleted, Mwatile confirmed.He said shortly after his appointment in March, he started receiving complaints that members were not benefiting from the fund.”This alerted us to the fact that something is wrong (at the fund),” he said.Various other sources insisted that certain “grants” had also been advanced from the fund, with amounts of up to N$500 000 involved.In one case, another Deputy Commissioner allegedly agreed to make repayments of N$200 a month, which means that he would need at least 208 years to settle the outstanding amount.Mwatile said the Ombudsman’s Office was brought in to investigate, and had advised that there had been several disbursements from the fund without any paperwork.The case was therefore handed over to the Commercial Branch of the Police for investigation.Mwatile said he could not recall the name of the investigating officer, and queries to NamPol’s Public Relations Unit were referred back to the Ministry of Safety and Security, under which Prisons and Correctional Services now fall.As a result of the preliminary findings of this investigation, Martin – who had co-signatory rights to the fund’s bank accounts – was considered the chief suspect and was arrested, Mwatile said.The other person – whom he declined to identify – who had signing rights to the account had since resigned from the Directorate of Prisons.A preliminary amount of N$400 000 was involved, but no other suspects had yet been identified, he said.Other sources placed the amount involved at N$676 000, with amounts varying between N$7 000 and N$9 000 regularly withdrawn until only about N$1 900 was left in the Entertainment Fund account by May this year.Mwatile said they would have to wait until the Police had completed their investigation before appointing a forensic auditing team.He denied reports that there had been conflict between himself and other top officials in the Directorate of Prisons over the course of the investigation.”We hope to have the investigation’s final report by the time of the next court appearance,” he said.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist 081 240 1587Mwatile insisted, however, that so far only Martin had been identified as a suspect.”We have identified him as the key suspect, and the Police executed a warrant of arrest for him,” Mwatile said.Martin, who was attached to the Directorate of Support Services, is expected to reappear in court on November 1.He was granted bail of N$20 000 in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday, August 22.Mwatile noted that the Entertainment Fund was in fact a statutory trust, which is regulated by the Prison Regulations as gazetted on November 6 2001, and as set out under the Prisons Act (Act 13 of 1998).All estimated 1 500 prison warders contribute to this fund.The lowest-paid members have N$20 deducted from their salaries every month, while higher-paid members pay more, he said.Mwatile could not give a figure for the total monthly contributions, but said the total figure collected since 1998 could run into millions.The fund is administered by a board of trustees (of which Martin was a member) and is used to fund entertainment facilities at all prisons in Namibia, Mwatile explained.”It also gets used for year-end parties and [loans] when members run into cash-flow problems,” Mwatile said.”But members borrowing from the fund have to pay the money back.”It would appear, however, that the fund had lent heavily to some individuals who never paid anything back, as it had inexplicably become depleted, Mwatile confirmed.He said shortly after his appointment in March, he started receiving complaints that members were not benefiting from the fund.”This alerted us to the fact that something is wrong (at the fund),” he said.Various other sources insisted that certain “grants” had also been advanced from the fund, with amounts of up to N$500 000 involved.In one case, another Deputy Commissioner allegedly agreed to make repayments of N$200 a month, which means that he would need at least 208 years to settle the outstanding amount.Mwatile said the Ombudsman’s Office was brought in to investigate, and had advised that there had been several disbursements from the fund without any paperwork.The case was therefore handed over to the Commercial Branch of the Police for investigation.Mwatile said he could not recall the name of the investigating officer, and queries to NamPol’s Public Relations Unit were referred back to the Ministry of Safety and Security, under which Prisons and Correctional Services now fall.As a result of the preliminary findings of this investigation, Martin – who had co-signatory rights to the fund’s bank accounts – was considered the chief suspect and was arrested, Mwatile said.The other person – whom he declined to identify – who had signing rights to the account had since resigned from the Directorate of Prisons.A preliminary amount of N$400 000 was involved, but no other suspects had yet been identified, he said.Other sources placed the amount involved at N$676 000, with amounts varying between N$7 000 and N$9 000 regularly withdrawn until only about N$1 900 was left in the Entertainment Fund account by May this year.Mwatile said they would have to wait until the Police had completed their investigation before appointing a forensic auditing team.He denied reports that there had been conflict between himself and other top officials in the Directorate of Prisons over the course of the investigation.”We hope to have the investigation’s final report by the time of the next court appearance,” he said. * John Grobler is a freelance journalist 081 240 1587

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News