Two cops charged with corruption

A POLICE Sergeant and a colleague holding the rank of Constable appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on a charge of corruption on Monday, based on a claim that they pocketed close to N$40 000 in stolen money that they were supposed to seize.

Sergeant Titus Ilonga (35) and Constable Tuliameni Mao Angula (29), both from Windhoek, were each granted bail of N$4 000 when they made a first court appearance before Magistrate Valmary van Rooi. Each of them managed to pay the required N$4 000 and were released on bail on the same day.According to the record of their case, they were arrested on Friday.A Police spokesperson, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, told The Namibian yesterday that the two face charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.He said a theft case was opened after the Police received a complaint that money had allegedly been stolen at a Windhoek restaurant, Panarotti’s, between August 5 and 7.The Police then received information about the possible whereabouts of the stolen money, with the result that Ilonga and Angula went to visit a possible witness’s house in Windhoek on August 9, Amulungu said.At that stage it was alleged that the person responsible for the theft had taken the money to that house for safekeeping.The money was not found there, however, and the two Policemen were allegedly told that the money had in the meantime been taken back to the suspected thief, Amulungu related.The theft suspect in turn told the two investigators that the money had by then been taken to a third person’s house, Amulungu said.It is claimed that Ilonga and Angula indeed then found the money – amounting to N$37 800 – at the third house, and that they removed it from there, Amulungu further reported.Instead of seizing the money as part of the evidence in the case, however, they allegedly pocketed the cash themselves, he said.According to Amulungu, the two Policemen were positively identified at an identity parade as the two men who are claimed to have removed the money from the house in question.They have denied that they seized any cash, however, he said.The case against Ilonga and Angula has been postponed to October 23 for further investigation.Their release on bail is accompanied by a set of conditions, requiring them to report at the Windhoek Police Station each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and to surrender their travel documents to the officer investigating their case.They are also forbidden from interfering with any witnesses in their case or leaving the Windhoek district without the permission of the investigating officer.Each of them managed to pay the required N$4 000 and were released on bail on the same day.According to the record of their case, they were arrested on Friday.A Police spokesperson, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, told The Namibian yesterday that the two face charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.He said a theft case was opened after the Police received a complaint that money had allegedly been stolen at a Windhoek restaurant, Panarotti’s, between August 5 and 7.The Police then received information about the possible whereabouts of the stolen money, with the result that Ilonga and Angula went to visit a possible witness’s house in Windhoek on August 9, Amulungu said.At that stage it was alleged that the person responsible for the theft had taken the money to that house for safekeeping.The money was not found there, however, and the two Policemen were allegedly told that the money had in the meantime been taken back to the suspected thief, Amulungu related.The theft suspect in turn told the two investigators that the money had by then been taken to a third person’s house, Amulungu said.It is claimed that Ilonga and Angula indeed then found the money – amounting to N$37 800 – at the third house, and that they removed it from there, Amulungu further reported.Instead of seizing the money as part of the evidence in the case, however, they allegedly pocketed the cash themselves, he said.According to Amulungu, the two Policemen were positively identified at an identity parade as the two men who are claimed to have removed the money from the house in question.They have denied that they seized any cash, however, he said.The case against Ilonga and Angula has been postponed to October 23 for further investigation.Their release on bail is accompanied by a set of conditions, requiring them to report at the Windhoek Police Station each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and to surrender their travel documents to the officer investigating their case.They are also forbidden from interfering with any witnesses in their case or leaving the Windhoek district without the permission of the investigating officer.