ACC arrests National Assembly Secretary

THE Secretary to the National Assembly, Nama Goabab, and a senior official in Parliament’s accounting department were arrested by officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission on Friday.

Goabab spent the night in Police custody after being arrested early on Friday afternoon. He was released on bail of N$5 000 after bringing an urgent bail application in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Saturday.Goabab and a senior member of Parliament’s accounting staff are scheduled to appear in court today.According to the Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Paulus Noa, the arrests resulted from an investigation into Goabab’s alleged use of the car allowance that he is entitled to as Secretary to the National Assembly.On his part, Goabab yesterday denied that he had any fraudulent intentions with the use of his vehicle allowance.Noa told The Namibian yesterday that Goabab has been receiving a monthly vehicle allowance as part of his salary as Secretary to the NA.It is alleged that at the same time that he was receiving a vehicle allowance, Goabab has been making use of a vehicle that was rented from a car rental company and that he instructed the National Assembly’s Chief Accountant to authorise the payment of the car rental company’s bill out of public funds, Noa said.He said the Chief Accountant was ordered to issue a cheque of about N$18 000 to pay for the car rental with taxpayers’ money.The ACC Director added that the ACC has received information that other senior Government officials are involved in similar arrangements.These are also being investigated, he said.”We have declared war against corruption now,” Noa said.”We are no longer going to tolerate these sort of practices.”According to Goabab, he rented a car from a car rental company after his own vehicle “was disabled”.After a week-long rental period, he returned the company’s car when he went on a ten-day trip out of the country, he related.On his return, he again rented a vehicle from the company, he said.On this occasion his credit card was swiped by the company for record purposes, and he asked them to consolidate the two invoices – for the initial, week-long rental and the second rental – into one account for future payment, Goabab said.On the second occasion he used the rental vehicle for about a month, he said.Goabab said he later asked the person responsible for finance and administration in his office to settle the account and deduct this from his salary.”There was no fraudulent intent on my part,” he said.If the money that was paid for the rental was not deducted from his salary, he added, it must have been because of human error.He indicated that his arrest on Friday came out of the blue and that he would have been able to explain the situation if he had been given a chance beforehand.Goabab was formerly a senior civil servant, holding the posts of Permanent Secretary of the National Planning Commission and Deputy Secretary to Cabinet before he left the civil service for a series of senior posts in the business sector.He was employed as Managing Director of Swabou Holdings, Chief Executive Officer of First National Bank of Namibia’s insurance operations, and head of operations at Santam Namibia before he returned to the public service late last year.He was released on bail of N$5 000 after bringing an urgent bail application in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Saturday.Goabab and a senior member of Parliament’s accounting staff are scheduled to appear in court today.According to the Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Paulus Noa, the arrests resulted from an investigation into Goabab’s alleged use of the car allowance that he is entitled to as Secretary to the National Assembly. On his part, Goabab yesterday denied that he had any fraudulent intentions with the use of his vehicle allowance.Noa told The Namibian yesterday that Goabab has been receiving a monthly vehicle allowance as part of his salary as Secretary to the NA.It is alleged that at the same time that he was receiving a vehicle allowance, Goabab has been making use of a vehicle that was rented from a car rental company and that he instructed the National Assembly’s Chief Accountant to authorise the payment of the car rental company’s bill out of public funds, Noa said.He said the Chief Accountant was ordered to issue a cheque of about N$18 000 to pay for the car rental with taxpayers’ money.The ACC Director added that the ACC has received information that other senior Government officials are involved in similar arrangements.These are also being investigated, he said.”We have declared war against corruption now,” Noa said.”We are no longer going to tolerate these sort of practices.”According to Goabab, he rented a car from a car rental company after his own vehicle “was disabled”.After a week-long rental period, he returned the company’s car when he went on a ten-day trip out of the country, he related.On his return, he again rented a vehicle from the company, he said.On this occasion his credit card was swiped by the company for record purposes, and he asked them to consolidate the two invoices – for the initial, week-long rental and the second rental – into one account for future payment, Goabab said.On the second occasion he used the rental vehicle for about a month, he said.Goabab said he later asked the person responsible for finance and administration in his office to settle the account and deduct this from his salary.”There was no fraudulent intent on my part,” he said.If the money that was paid for the rental was not deducted from his salary, he added, it must have been because of human error.He indicated that his arrest on Friday came out of the blue and that he would have been able to explain the situation if he had been given a chance beforehand.Goabab was formerly a senior civil servant, holding the posts of Permanent Secretary of the National Planning Commission and Deputy Secretary to Cabinet before he left the civil service for a series of senior posts in the business sector.He was employed as Managing Director of Swabou Holdings, Chief Executive Officer of First National Bank of Namibia’s insurance operations, and head of operations at Santam Namibia before he returned to the public service late last year.