Two top cops guilty on theft charges

THE suspended Commanding Officer of the Namibian Police’s Special Branch, Commissioner Neromba Lotti Uusiku, and a former high-ranking colleague, Joseph Kamati, were both convicted as charged as their theft trial reached a key stage in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday.

In a judgement delivered by Magistrate Sarel Jacobs, Uusiku (51) was convicted on four counts of theft, involving a total of N$13 800. Kamati (62) was found guilty on three charges, involving a total of N$1 800.Uusiku was charged with theft, alleged to have been committed in the period between August 8 2005 and February 26 2006, over a shortage of N$12 000 that was found to exist when an inspection was done on official funds that were kept in a safe in Uusiku’s office in February 2006.Uusiku and Kamati were jointly charged with another three counts of theft. These charges were based on allegations that Uusiku had allowed Kamati, who at that stage was in charge of the Namibian Police’s Finance Division, to make personal use of Police funds under Uusiku’s control.It was alleged that Kamati received N$500 out of funds under Uusiku’s control on September 2 2005, N$700 on September 28 2005, and N$600 on October 12 2005. Uusiku and Kamati both denied guilt.When he testified in his own defence last month, Kamati told the Magistrate that he informed Uusiku that he needed money for his private use when he asked Uusiku to advance funds to him out of the Police money under Uusiku’s control.Uusiku however denied that he knew the money advanced to Kamati would be for his private use.On paperwork that was completed on each of the three occasions when money was advanced to Kamati it was however clearly stated that the money was for his private use, the Magistrate noted in his judgement.Uusiku’s explanation that he thought Kamati needed the money for official purposes and only recorded that it was for private use because he did not want Uusiku to know for what official use the money advanced to him would be utilised, was rejected by the Magistrate as inherently improbable.Kamati repaid all of the money advanced to him on March 22 2006 – but that was after he had heard that an investigation into the use of the funds was under way and Uusiku had been arrested.The Magistrate found that Uusiku and Kamati both knew that the money in the confidential standing advance fund under Uusiku’s control was meant to be used only for official purposes. Even if Kamati intended to return an equivalent amount to the fund, he and Uusiku both knew they were not entitled to make use of the money, the court found.Uusiku’s defence to the charge in which he was accused of theft of N$12 000 was that someone with a duplicate key might have gained access to the safe in his office and could have removed money from the safe. He suggested that this could have been part of a conspiracy against him, aimed at getting him into trouble and damaging his career in the Police.Recounting testimony heard during the trial, Magistrate Jacobs said according to the evidence before the court the safe in Uusiku’s office did not have a duplicate key since at least 1995. There was also no evidence from Uusiku himself before the court to indicate that in the period from August 8 2005, when he officially took control of his office and its contents, to the date in February 2006 when an investigation into the use of money at the Special Branch was launched, the safe key was not in Uusiku’s possession and as a result could have been copied by someone else, the Magistrate said.He also noted that when Uusiku’s safe was opened for an inspection, cash of N$11 200 was still found inside. If someone had to go through all the trouble of getting hold of a key to the safe and removing money as part of a plot against Uusiku, it remains unexplained why such an amount in cash was still left behind in the safe and not also taken, the Magistrate said.He found Uusiku’s explanation about the possibility that someone could have got hold of another key for the safe and removed money as part of a plot against him not to be a reasonable possibility.Uusiku and Kamati have to return to court on Friday next week for the hearing of evidence and arguments before they are sentenced. They remain free on bail.