Unam theft case sent to Regional Court

THE Prosecutor General has decided to continue with the prosecution of two former senior University of Namibia staff members on a charge that they allegedly stole computer equipment worth close to N$70 000 from the university in March last year.

Unam’s former Pro Vice Chancellor: Academic Affairs and Research, Geoffrey Kiangi, and the former manager of the university’s computer centre, Kaggere Suresh, were informed on Friday that the Prosecutor General had instructed that they should be arraigned in the Windhoek Regional Court on a charge of theft. Kiangi and Suresh on Friday made their latest appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.According to the PG’s instructions, they will have to face a charge of theft of computer equipment to the value of N$69 222,90 in the Windhoek Regional Court.The two will have to make a first appearance on June 29 in the Regional Court.They remain free on bail until then.At a previous court appearance about two months ago, Kiangi and Suresh both pleaded not guilty to a charge that they had stolen 12 computers and other computer equipment from Unam on March 10 last year.In written plea explanations that were submitted to the court, they stated that Unam’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Lazarus Hangula, was well aware that the computer centre was trying to raise extra income for the university through buying computer components, assembling these and selling the finished computers to individuals, including people from outside the university.They claimed that during a meeting that they had with Hangula on January 19 last year, Kiangi indicated that he would buy 12 computers from the computer centre for a proposed training centre that Kiangi’s wife wanted to open.The claimed sale of the computers to Kiangi was never a secret and the computers were assembled at the centre openly and loaded onto a Unam vehicle to be delivered to the planned training centre on March 10, they stated.At the premises where the computers were to be installed, Unam security staff members and Police officers arrived and seized the computers, setting in motion the process that resulted in the two men being arrested and charged five days later.After Kiangi’s resignation in August last year, the secretary of Unam’s University Council wrote a letter to the Prosecutor General to inform her that the matter between Unam and Kiangi “had been resolved amicably” and that the charge against Kiangi be withdrawn.The PG has decided not to grant that request and decided that the two be arraigned in the Regional Court.Kiangi and Suresh on Friday made their latest appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.According to the PG’s instructions, they will have to face a charge of theft of computer equipment to the value of N$69 222,90 in the Windhoek Regional Court.The two will have to make a first appearance on June 29 in the Regional Court.They remain free on bail until then.At a previous court appearance about two months ago, Kiangi and Suresh both pleaded not guilty to a charge that they had stolen 12 computers and other computer equipment from Unam on March 10 last year.In written plea explanations that were submitted to the court, they stated that Unam’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Lazarus Hangula, was well aware that the computer centre was trying to raise extra income for the university through buying computer components, assembling these and selling the finished computers to individuals, including people from outside the university.They claimed that during a meeting that they had with Hangula on January 19 last year, Kiangi indicated that he would buy 12 computers from the computer centre for a proposed training centre that Kiangi’s wife wanted to open.The claimed sale of the computers to Kiangi was never a secret and the computers were assembled at the centre openly and loaded onto a Unam vehicle to be delivered to the planned training centre on March 10, they stated.At the premises where the computers were to be installed, Unam security staff members and Police officers arrived and seized the computers, setting in motion the process that resulted in the two men being arrested and charged five days later.After Kiangi’s resignation in August last year, the secretary of Unam’s University Council wrote a letter to the Prosecutor General to inform her that the matter between Unam and Kiangi “had been resolved amicably” and that the charge against Kiangi be withdrawn.The PG has decided not to grant that request and decided that the two be arraigned in the Regional Court.