TransNamib’s Titus Haimbili off the hook

SUSPENDED TransNamib Chief Executive Officer Titus Haimbili has been found not guilty on five of the six charges of fraud, corruption and nepotism the company had levelled against him.

His lawyer, Apie Small, told The Namibian that the chairperson of the disciplinary hearing, Clement Daniels, could only find his client guilty on a charge that he acted outside the scope of his authority and his employment contract when he implemented an interest-free study loan policy without submitting it to the board for approval.The company had accused Haimbili of not seeking approval from the board for a study loan of 4 240 British pounds (around N$65 000).Daniels gave the two opposing legal teams until this week to prepare their final submissions on mitigating or aggravating factors before he makes his recommendation to the company.It is believed that Haimbili had taken the loan at the time when the company had no board.He had apparently consulted at least two general managers on the issue.However, others argued that there should have been a higher authority as the general managers were his subordinates.Haimbili was put on two months’ ‘special leave’ in August last year before six charges were put to him in October.One of the main charges was that he ‘irregularly and improperly’ appointed Albertus !Naruseb as General Manager of Human Resources, whom some claimed had leapfrogged other interviewees for the job.The allegation was that Haimbili appointed him because he was his brother-in-law. Haimbili denied the allegation.!Naruseb was part of a group of five new key staff members Haimbili had appointed.Others were the General Manager for Finance, Company Legal Advisor, General Manager for Marketing and the Chief of Corporate Communication.With the Board questioning Haimbili’s powers to appoint, there were doubts about the appointments of the other four staff members, including acting CEO Mike Kavekotora (who is the Marketing GM).He was also accused of contravening the company’s credit card policy, by failing to ‘appropriately explain some of the expenses incurred’ by him between February and July last year and for allegedly ordering the increase or change of the credit card limits for all staff, including himself, without the board’s approval.On another charge – one of fraud – it was alleged that between April and May last year he allegedly invoiced the company N$19 682 for a flight for himself and his wife to Botswana ‘under the assumption that the travel was for official purposes’.At the time it was reported that Haimbili had his wife’s flight costs deducted from his salary.The Board had also claimed that Haimbili had ordered an increase on his airtime limit contrary to TransNamib policies. The last charge was that he had allegedly abused his position ‘to secure a favourable rental agreement’ for a TransNamib house he was occupying while his own house was being renovated.Daniels dismissed all those claims by the company.The company charged Haimbili after an investigation was conducted by Ernst & Young at a cost of around N$200 000 and the board found it sufficient to take further steps.The Namibian had it on good authority that Haimbili had launched an investigation that was about to reveal a cesspool of corruption and kickbacks linked to the locomotive deal made by the previous TransNamib management before he was charged by the new board.Among the allegations was that electric appliances such as fridges, given by the Chinese companies as kickbacks, were smuggled into Namibia with the locomotives without official clearance at the Walvis Bay harbour.Also, the real value of the locomotives was apparently not revealed, with some money allegedly changing hands without the company’s knowledge.Haimbili’s suspension last year led to a national strike by TransNamib workers and financial losses ran into millions.Shortly after the six-day illegal strike Transport Minister Helmut Angula told the National Assembly that the stay-away had cost the transport parastatal N$52,9 million. He said the loss for the Namibian economy was estimated at N$180 million.In October last year Cabinet was forced to provide a bailout of N$14,2 million to TransNamib as the company was unable to pay workers’ salaries.TransNamib had asked for a bailout of N$52 million but only N$14,2 million was advanced from the Government’s contingency fund. christof@namibian.com.na