The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has shown that two of its former employees were responsible for a loss of N$18.6 million the fund suffered as a result of fraudulent payments.
This is a finding made by judge Thomas Masuku in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court last week.
Masuku found that the GIPF has shown that two former annuity administrators of the fund, Martin Smith and Vabiola Aoses, were responsible for various transactions through which the fund paid an amount of N$18.6 million to bank accounts that did not belong to GIPF beneficiaries.
The computer log-in credentials of Smith and Aoses were used to have the fraudulent payments done.
Masuku remarked in his judgement: “The evidence shows that they abused the trust reposed in them by their employer and violated it to their benefit and contemporaneously to the employer’s detriment.”
He also recounted that electronic-generated evidence placed before him “in part showed that the defendants [Smith and Aoses] manipulated the plaintiff’s system and their log-in details were shown to be the ones used when the manipulation of the plaintiff’s system was done”.
Masuku concluded: “I am satisfied that the plaintiff [GIPF] has made out a case against the defendants, who abused their trust and thus caused the plaintiff the financial loss claimed.”
The court’s judgement ends with Smith and Aoses being ordered to pay N$18.6 million to the GIPF, and also to pay annual interest of 20% on that amount and to pay the fund’s legal costs in its case against them.
Masuku recounted that the GIPF launched an investigation in August 2022, after its Otjiwarongo office received a complaint from one of its beneficiaries, who informed the fund her children had not received payments from the fund that were due to them for the 2019 school year and that her benefits from the fund had also stopped without explanation.
During the investigation, it was discovered that in the GIPF’s records there were payments to several of the fund’s beneficiaries that were made to the same bank account.
It was also discovered that documents such as proof of registration of students at schools and tertiary education institutions on record at the GIPF were forged.
Masuku recounted some of the evidence placed before him: “The investigation discovered a sophisticated document manufacturing operation. To push fraudulent payments through the system, the perpetrators utilised forged school letters, fabricated university enrollment documents, counterfeit full birth certificates and falsified bank confirmation letters.”
The judge also summarised part of the testimony of one of the witnesses who testified on behalf of the GIPF.
“By cross-referencing bank accounts that frequently received suspicious payouts, the investigators linked these fraudulent amendments directly to the defendants. The system logs confirmed that the defendants were the ones who altered the legitimate banking details, redirecting funds into fictitious accounts. The audit team uncovered undeniable physical evidence on the work laptop allocated to the first defendant [Smith], which contained numerous forged documents.”
It was also discovered during the investigation that money misappropriated from the GIPF was used to buy real estate registered in Smith’s name, including immovable properties in the Kleine Kuppe area of Windhoek and at Swakopmund, Masuku noted.
Smith did not testify during the hearing of the GIPF’s claim against him and Aoses.
Aoses testified, and denied any wrongdoing on her own part.
However, Masuku remarked that her evidence “did not make a dent” on the case the GIPF made out against her and Smith.
Smith and Aoses were also criminally charged at the end of August 2022 in connection with the misappropriation of money from the GIPF. However, their criminal case was struck off the court roll in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court at the end of July 2023, after a magistrate refused to give the state more time for the matter to be investigated.
Legal counsel Mbushandje Ntinda, instructed by the law firm Sisa Namandje & Co, represented the GIPF in the matter.
Smith and Aoses were represented by Marvin Katuvesiruaina.
