Court delays Jacobs case

A CORRUPTION case against former Karas Chief Regional Officer Salmaan Jacobs was again postponed in the Keetmanshoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The Karas Regional Council recently decided not to renew Jacobs’s five-year term when it expired at the end of October.
Jacobs was arrested early last year for allegedly defrauding the Karas Regional Council of close to N$32 000 after he allegedly claimed N$49 020 in expenses for attending a month-long, all-expenses-paid workshop in Germany.
He has not yet pleaded to the charge.
State Prosecutor Billy Lutaka yesterday requested Magistrate Philanda Blockstein-Christiaan to postpone the case until February 9 to allow further Police investigations.
Lutaka told the court that the Police are still waiting for witness affidavits from German nationals.
At Jacobs’s previous court hearing, Blockstein-Christiaan indicated that the case would be provisionally withdrawn at his next court appearance – yesterday – pending further Police investigation.
This followed after Jacobs complained that the case had been dragging on for too long.
However, Blockstein-Christiaan yesterday agreed with the State counsel to postpone the case until next year after she consulted with an Anti-Corruption Commission investigator during a five-minute court adjournment.
‘It is a complex case, therefore the Police investigation cannot be completed within the limited space of time,’ she noted
‘Therefore, the case cannot be withdrawn provisionally like any simple theft case,’ she added.
Jacobs remains free on bail of N$7 000.