NamPost accountant accused of stealing N$8 million
Written by on May 30, 2024
A former Namibia Post (NamPost) assistant accountant is accused of stealing N$8 million from the parastatal.
According to documents filed at the Windhoek High Court, NamPost suffered a financial loss of N$4,9 million as a result of the alleged theft.
The court has been informed in an application in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act that NamPost discovered during October last year that about N$8 million has been paid from a NamPost account to a bank account in the name of Ueriuka Vindina, an assistant accountant of the parastatal.
An amount of about N$3,1 million was recovered from Vindina’s account and paid back to NamPost in October.
In an affidavit filed at the court, prosecutor general Martha Imalwa said Vindina was responsible for making premium payments to the insurance company Hollard for funeral insurance for NamPost Savings Bank account holders.
She said an investigation of a bank account in Vindina’s name showed that a number of large deposits were made into his account from April to October last year.
In April last year, a deposit of N$1,6 million with the description “NAMPOST” was made into this account, Imalwa said.
A deposit of N$1,3 million, also with the description “NAMPOST, was made into his account in May 2023.
Those two payments were supposed to have been made to Hollard.
On 18 October last year, a payment of N$3,1 million was also made from NamPost into Vindina’s account.
According to the court documents, the transactions were processed by Vindina without being reviewed by his supervisor.
On 5 July last year, Vindana made a payment of N$50 000 with the description ‘Old Mutual Unit Trust’.
The money in this account with Old Mutual Namibia is the only of Vindina’s assets over which Imalwa has obtained a preservation order in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
In a property preservation order given by Windhoek High Court judge Herman Oosthuizen in April, which was made a final order on 17 May, it has been instructed that the money in Vindina’s investment account with Old Mutual Namibia may not be dealt with in any manner.
Vindina resigned from NamPost with immediate effect on 19 October last year, while investigations were ongoing.
In his resignation letter, he said his health had deteriorated over the previous four years, and that because of this he had made mistakes at work, including typing errors, wrong decisions and poor planning, Imalwa recounted in her affidavit.
Imalwa also said investigations showed that after the large deposits had been made into Vindina’s account in April and May last year, the funds in his account were spent, leaving only about N$1 138 in the account on 12 September last year.
She said on the available evidence there are reasonable grounds to believe that Vindina defrauded NamPost of about N$8 million during an unknown period.
Imalwa also said there are reasonable grounds to believe Vindina misrepresented to NamPost that he was making payments to Hollard from NamPost’s account, while he actually was transferring funds to his own bank account.
The money in his investment account with Old Mutual came from the funds that he allegedly transferred fraudulently to his own account, Imalwa said.
She further said there are reasonable grounds to believe the amount of N$50 000 that Vindina invested with Old mutual was the proceeds of fraud, alternatively theft and money laundering.
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