Ghost Teacher' Scam Cost Ministry of Education Thounsands

Ministry of education namibia

THE scale of an alleged ‘ghost teacher' scam discovered at the Ministry of Education in late 2011 ballooned on Friday evening, with the first court appearance of eight suspects following their arrest by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The eight suspects made a night-time appearance before Magistrate Ruth Herunga in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court, to be joined as accused to a case in which two men have already been facing multiple charges of corruption and fraud since their arrest near the end of 2011.

The eight new accused were granted bail in amounts varying from N$8 000 to N$40 000, and were told to return to court for another appearance tomorrow.

They were added as accused to a case in which an official in the Ministry of Education, Laurentius Dino van Wyk, was first arrested and charged at the end of November 2011.

By mid-December 2011, a second accused, Akunangondo Nauyala, was arrested and charged.

They are accused of having been involved in a scam in which the Ministry of Education was allegedly defrauded when the names of people not employed with the ministry were registered on the ministry's payroll, and these ‘ghost teachers' were then paid monthly salaries, which found their way into the pockets of those involved in the scheme.

According to the charge sheet in their case, Van Wyk is facing a total of 37 charges - including six charges in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act, and thirty counts of fraud.

Nauyala has been charged with one count of corruptly using an office or position for gratification, and 17 counts of fraud. It is alleged that he received a salary as a ‘ghost teacher'.

A total of N$347 826 was allegedly paid to him.

Nauyala has gone on the run after he was released on bail of N$15 000, Public Prosecutor Arrie Husselmann informed Magistrate Herunga with the court appearance of the eight newly-arrested accused.

Husselmann at first suggested that bail in amounts of N$30 000 or N$50 000 be granted to the eight. The magistrate lowered those amounts after defence lawyers representing the accused objected that the bail would be set too high for their clients to afford.

Ministry of Education officials Anne-Marie Alexandra van Wyk, who is charged with 15 counts of fraud and one count of corruptly using an office or position for gratification, Rebekka Petrina Uris, who is charged with three counts of corruptly using an office or position for gratification and 15 counts of fraud, and Valery Waldro Nanghula, who faces 12 charges of fraud and two counts of corruptly using an office or position for gratification, were each granted bail in an amount of N$40 000.

Another of the accused, Mengistu Nghaamwa, who is alleged to have received fraudulent salary payments totalling N$181 049 from the ministry, was also granted bail of N$40 000.

Bail of N$15 000 was granted to Festus Haitula, who is charged with one count of corruptly using an office or position for gratification.

The other three accused - Rachel Joey Jansen, Ester Omagano Ambondo, and Doreen Elder Upingisana - who are all charged with one count of fraud, were granted bail of N$8 000 each.

They were arrested after a decision was taken in the Office of the Prosecutor General that they should face charges together with Van Wyk and Nauyala in the Windhoek Regional Court.