Unam scam suspect flees

ANGOLAN national, Jose Manuel Adriano, who was arrested in September last year on charges that he sold forged academic qualifications to fellow Angolans in Namibia, has escaped from Police custody.

Adriano (29) was set to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The dock remained empty after his case was called, and it was left up to Public Prosecutor Ruben Shileka to tell Magistrate Maria Mahalie that the court orderly deployed in her court had informed him that Adriano had escaped from custody.The indication was that the investigating officer working on Adriano’s case had not informed the Prosecutor of the development.Magistrate Mahalie issued a warrant for the immediate arrest of Adriano, whose arrest last year led to the large-scale expulsion of Angolan students from the University of Namibia (Unam) because of suspicions that they had gained entry to the university using false academic qualifications allegedly bought from Adriano.The almost wholesale suspension of Angolan students – Unam de-registered 165 of the 196 Angolan students that it said were registered with the university – was reversed again in February, when Unam was threatened with legal action by students who claimed to have been kicked out of the institution without it being proved that they had also used fake papers to enter Unam.According to Warrant Officer James Matengu of the Namibian Police’s Public Relations Office, Adriano escaped from custody between March 30 and 31.Matengu said the investigating officer in Adriano’s case claimed that he had been informed of the escape only a couple of days after the event, and that the circumstances of the escape were still being investigated.Matengu could not confirm where the escape took place or how it occurred, but it is thought that it happened at Windhoek’s main Police Station.Adriano last appeared in court on March 4.He was also in court in Mid-December last year, when he unsuccessfully applied to be released on bail.During that bail application the Police officer investigating his case, Chief Inspector Oscar Sheehama, testified that his investigation showed that 106 Angolan students at Unam, the Polytechnic of Namibia and the International University of Management in Windhoek were using forged academic qualifications.Some of the students admitted that their papers were fake; all of them pointed to Adriano as having been the alleged source of their false qualifications, Sheehama claimed.He alleged that Adriano sold forged academic certificates at a price of US$300 to US$400 per certificate – which would have earned him between US$31 800 (about N$211 300 at the current exchange rate) and US$42 400 (N$281 750) for his efforts.The dock remained empty after his case was called, and it was left up to Public Prosecutor Ruben Shileka to tell Magistrate Maria Mahalie that the court orderly deployed in her court had informed him that Adriano had escaped from custody.The indication was that the investigating officer working on Adriano’s case had not informed the Prosecutor of the development.Magistrate Mahalie issued a warrant for the immediate arrest of Adriano, whose arrest last year led to the large-scale expulsion of Angolan students from the University of Namibia (Unam) because of suspicions that they had gained entry to the university using false academic qualifications allegedly bought from Adriano.The almost wholesale suspension of Angolan students – Unam de-registered 165 of the 196 Angolan students that it said were registered with the university – was reversed again in February, when Unam was threatened with legal action by students who claimed to have been kicked out of the institution without it being proved that they had also used fake papers to enter Unam.According to Warrant Officer James Matengu of the Namibian Police’s Public Relations Office, Adriano escaped from custody between March 30 and 31.Matengu said the investigating officer in Adriano’s case claimed that he had been informed of the escape only a couple of days after the event, and that the circumstances of the escape were still being investigated.Matengu could not confirm where the escape took place or how it occurred, but it is thought that it happened at Windhoek’s main Police Station.Adriano last appeared in court on March 4.He was also in court in Mid-December last year, when he unsuccessfully applied to be released on bail.During that bail application the Police officer investigating his case, Chief Inspector Oscar Sheehama, testified that his investigation showed that 106 Angolan students at Unam, the Polytechnic of Namibia and the International University of Management in Windhoek were using forged academic qualifications.Some of the students admitted that their papers were fake; all of them pointed to Adriano as having been the alleged source of their false qualifications, Sheehama claimed.He alleged that Adriano sold forged academic certificates at a price of US$300 to US$400 per certificate – which would have earned him between US$31 800 (about N$211 300 at the current exchange rate) and US$42 400 (N$281 750) for his efforts.