Veterans tighten noose Edson Haufiku Thursday, August 14, 2014 - 08:00 News Measures have been introduced with the aim of closing loopholes that have led to the defrauding of veterans of the liberation struggle by suppliers working in cahoots with some ministry personnel, one of whom was arrested two years ago. The introduction of the measures was necessitated after a former employee of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs (MoVA), Mikael Tuwilika Abner appeared in the Oshakati Magistrates’ Court in 2012 after his arrest by the Anti-Corruption Commission for fraudulently diverting more than N$1,1 million which had been approved for veterans in northern Namibia. The fleecing of the more than 60 veterans has accumulated in losses of more than N$3,3 million from the War Veterans Fund during 2013 alone, according to the ministry. This measures, MoVA permanent secretary Ambassador Hopelong Iipinge said include the thorough verification of payment invoices for income-generating projects from veterans and the blacklisting of suppliers who deliver substandard services. Information contained in the docket of which the original was discovered in a riverbed indicate that suppliers of mostly vehicles, tents and chairs issue veterans with invoices for items they do not have. This invoices are then paid from the Veterans Fund resulting in suppliers gaining lucrative interest on the amount paid before refunding the MoVA for failure to deliver such items. Of the companies so far blacklisted by the MoVA, nine are Naminian owned, while the tenth is a South African tent supplying company which business premises up to now cannot be traced by Nampol investigators looking in to the matter. As a remedy to determine whether some suppliers are misusing the trust given to them by the MoVA, the Namibian police has made contact with previous vehicle owners in Upington, Kuruman, Pretoria and the Gauteng province and also enlisted the services of an Otjiwarongo-based assessor to assess the prices paid by veterans for vehicles which the ministry and the police later discovered were over inflated. In addition, Nampol investigators have also began to request bank statements from various commercial banks, which the police are optimistic will reveal the money trail between the implicated individuals and companies. As to the ongoing police investigation, Ambassador Iipinge said the MoVA is yet to be briefed on the progress by the Nampol investigations team.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 07:44:21 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015