SSC fraud case postponed to ’08

THE case in which a former Social Security Commission employee and 63 co-accused are charged with defrauding the SSC to the tune of N$432 000 was again postponed yesterday for a decision by the Prosecutor General.

Former SSC staff member Maxwell Spanneberg (30) and his co-accused have to appear again in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura on March 26, after their case was postponed yesterday for a second time. Spanneberg pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud, alternatively theft, before the case was postponed for the first time on September 13 to obtain the Prosecutor General’s decision.In the charge against Spanneberg and his co-accused, it is alleged that a total of N$432 270 was paid out by the SSC between April 21 2005 and September 8 2006 as a result of fictional-sick leave claims that Spanneberg had processed and approved while he was employed at the parastatal.The allegedly fictional claims were made in the names of Spanneberg’s co-accused, and the money paid to these people eventually found its way into Spanneberg’s own pockets as well, it is alleged.Spanneberg was suspended from his post in the SSC’s Registry Division on August 30 last year, when a full-scale investigation of his alleged activities was ordered.The SSC dismissed him on November 2, after he had been found guilty of misconduct following a disciplinary hearing, the SSC has stated.Spanneberg was arrested and charged criminally ten days later.He spent a month in Police custody before he was granted bail of N$15 000.He remains free on bail.Spanneberg pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud, alternatively theft, before the case was postponed for the first time on September 13 to obtain the Prosecutor General’s decision.In the charge against Spanneberg and his co-accused, it is alleged that a total of N$432 270 was paid out by the SSC between April 21 2005 and September 8 2006 as a result of fictional-sick leave claims that Spanneberg had processed and approved while he was employed at the parastatal.The allegedly fictional claims were made in the names of Spanneberg’s co-accused, and the money paid to these people eventually found its way into Spanneberg’s own pockets as well, it is alleged.Spanneberg was suspended from his post in the SSC’s Registry Division on August 30 last year, when a full-scale investigation of his alleged activities was ordered.The SSC dismissed him on November 2, after he had been found guilty of misconduct following a disciplinary hearing, the SSC has stated.Spanneberg was arrested and charged criminally ten days later.He spent a month in Police custody before he was granted bail of N$15 000.He remains free on bail.