Charges mount over Telecom copper scam

THE number of fraud, theft and corruption charges against a Windhoek businessman and a former Telecom Namibia manager, accused of involvement in an alleged multi-million dollar scrap copper sales scam, grew from 13 to 30 with the latest court appearance of two of the suspects yesterday.

Businessman Heinz Dresselhaus (51) and James Camm (50), a former General Manager at Telecom Namibia, were informed yesterday that the Prosecutor-General had decided that they should go on trial in the High Court. They will join a business partner of Dresselhaus, Etienne Weakley, in the dock, while the charges they face – 13 counts of fraud, alternatively theft or corruption had already been pending against Weakley – will be increasing to eleven counts of corruption, six charges of theft, alternatively fraud, and 13 counts of fraud, alternatively theft or corruption.The indictment that the trio will be facing at their trial was handed to Dresselhaus and Camm during their appearance before Magistrate Tuyenikelao Haikango yesterday.The indictment runs over just more than 100 typewritten pages.Dresselhaus and Camm were told that they have to make a first appearance for pre-trial purposes in the High Court on Friday.They remain free on the bail of N$20 000 that each of them posted after they had been arrested on June 10.With those arrests, the way was paved for Dresselhaus and Camm to be joined to a case that had been pending against Weakley, Dresselhaus’s partner in a scrap materials dealership, Dresselhaus Scrap CC, since early July 2001.Weakley had initially been charged with another former Telecom Namibia Manager, Ivan Ganes, who however moved from Namibia to South Africa shortly after he and Weakley had been charged, leaving the case against him and Weakley hanging in limbo until he returned to Namibia in late October last year.Ganes’s trial was separated from that of Weakley in May, when Ganes offered guilty pleas to all 13 fraud charges that he and Weakley were set to face together.He was sentenced to an effective two-year jail term and a fine of N$100 000.Ganes told the court that his share of the earnings that he said he, Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley were to gain from a fraudulent scheme that he claimed they had set up around the sale of scrap copper wire by Telecom Namibia to Dresselhaus Scrap CC amounted to some N$161 000.Telecom Namibia’s total losses as a result of the 13 charges that Ganes was prosecuted on, amounted to some N$1,125 million.Those charges focused on allegations that the four alleged partners in crime had devised a scheme whereby Ganes and Camm ensured that Dresselhaus Scrap CC would pay lower prices than it had initially agreed with Telecom for scrap copper and other materials that the firm was contracted to remove from Telecom’s old phone line network.In addition to that, the prosecution is charging, Dresselhaus Scrap CC was also allowed to charge Telecom Namibia labour costs for the removal of the material, whereas it had not been entitled to charge for those expenses.An additional 17 charges were added to those 13 counts for the intended trial of Dresselhaus, Weakley and Camm yesterday.Five of the new charges relate to payments that are alleged to have been made to Ganes or Camm, or them both, while Dresselhaus Scrap CC had an agreement with Telecom Namibia to buy scrap copper from the telecommunications parastatal.In those five charges, it is alleged that Dresselhaus and Weakley paid Ganes or Camm a total of N$315 550.90 on five occasions between late October 1998 and mid-December 2000, in essence to bribe them to support Dresselhaus Scrap CC in its business dealings with Telecom Namibia.In another six new charges that were added to the indictment yesterday, it is alleged that Dresselhaus and Weakley also paid additional bribes – but this time in the form of supposed “commissions” – totalling N$984 698.60 to Camm and Ganes on various occasions from April 2000 to September 2000.The alleged scam also extended to Dresselhaus Scrap CC not at all being required to pay for some of the copper that it had received from Telecom Namibia, it is further charged in another six new charges that have been added to the indictment.In those charges, it is alleged that Camm knew that the firm removed a total of some 112,9 tons of copper from Telecom’s obsolete phone line network between late November 2000 and the end of February the next year, without being invoiced to pay for that material.The host of criminal charges that are pending against Dresselhaus, Weakley and Camm represent a second leg of legal steps that Telecom has taken in connection with the alleged scam.The parastatal also sued Dresselhaus Scrap CC for N$3,49 million, in a civil case that the scrap dealership settled in mid-July by agreeing to pay Telecom N$2,4 million.They will join a business partner of Dresselhaus, Etienne Weakley, in the dock, while the charges they face – 13 counts of fraud, alternatively theft or corruption had already been pending against Weakley – will be increasing to eleven counts of corruption, six charges of theft, alternatively fraud, and 13 counts of fraud, alternatively theft or corruption.The indictment that the trio will be facing at their trial was handed to Dresselhaus and Camm during their appearance before Magistrate Tuyenikelao Haikango yesterday.The indictment runs over just more than 100 typewritten pages.Dresselhaus and Camm were told that they have to make a first appearance for pre-trial purposes in the High Court on Friday.They remain free on the bail of N$20 000 that each of them posted after they had been arrested on June 10.With those arrests, the way was paved for Dresselhaus and Camm to be joined to a case that had been pending against Weakley, Dresselhaus’s partner in a scrap materials dealership, Dresselhaus Scrap CC, since early July 2001.Weakley had initially been charged with another former Telecom Namibia Manager, Ivan Ganes, who however moved from Namibia to South Africa shortly after he and Weakley had been charged, leaving the case against him and Weakley hanging in limbo until he returned to Namibia in late October last year.Ganes’s trial was separated from that of Weakley in May, when Ganes offered guilty pleas to all 13 fraud charges that he and Weakley were set to face together.He was sentenced to an effective two-year jail term and a fine of N$100 000.Ganes told the court that his share of the earnings that he said he, Camm, Dresselhaus and Weakley were to gain from a fraudulent scheme that he claimed they had set up around the sale of scrap copper wire by Telecom Namibia to Dresselhaus Scrap CC amounted to some N$161 000.Telecom Namibia’s total losses as a result of the 13 charges that Ganes was prosecuted on, amounted to some N$1,125 million.Those charges focused on allegations that the four alleged partners in crime had devised a scheme whereby Ganes and Camm ensured that Dresselhaus Scrap CC would pay lower prices than it had initially agreed with Telecom for scrap copper and other materials that the firm was contracted to remove from Telecom’s old phone line network.In addition to that, the prosecution is charging, Dresselhaus Scrap CC was also allowed to charge Telecom Namibia labour costs for the removal of the material, whereas it had not been entitled to charge for those expenses.An additional 17 charges were added to those 13 counts for the intended trial of Dresselhaus, Weakley and Camm yesterday.Five of the new charges relate to payments that are alleged to have been made to Ganes or Camm, or them both, while Dresselhaus Scrap CC had an agreement with Telecom Namibia to buy scrap copper from the telecommunications parastatal.In those five charges, it is alleged that Dresselhaus and Weakley paid Ganes or Camm a total of N$315 550.90 on five occasions between late October 1998 and mid-December 2000, in essence to bribe them to support Dresselhaus Scrap CC in its business dealings with Telecom Namibia.In another six new charges that were added to the indictment yesterday, it is alleged that Dresselhaus and Weakley also paid additional bribes – but this time in th
e form of supposed “commissions” – totalling N$984 698.60 to Camm and Ganes on various occasions from April 2000 to September 2000.The alleged scam also extended to Dresselhaus Scrap CC not at all being required to pay for some of the copper that it had received from Telecom Namibia, it is further charged in another six new charges that have been added to the indictment.In those charges, it is alleged that Camm knew that the firm removed a total of some 112,9 tons of copper from Telecom’s obsolete phone line network between late November 2000 and the end of February the next year, without being invoiced to pay for that material.The host of criminal charges that are pending against Dresselhaus, Weakley and Camm represent a second leg of legal steps that Telecom has taken in connection with the alleged scam.The parastatal also sued Dresselhaus Scrap CC for N$3,49 million, in a civil case that the scrap dealership settled in mid-July by agreeing to pay Telecom N$2,4 million.