Ex-bank official jailed on 104 fraud charges

A LANDS Ministry official faces at least two years’ imprisonment after he admitted late last week that he had stolen close to N$600 000 during his previous employment with Standard Bank Namibia.

For close to a year and five months – while working in a senior position in Standard Bank Namibia’s investments department – Albert Nikanor was defrauding the bank on the sly, Windhoek Regional Court Magistrate Dinnah Usiku heard when Nikanor pleaded guilty to 104 counts of fraud on Thursday. For more than three years after the bank discovered his deceit, the consequences of his actions remained suspended over Nikanor.On Friday, though, the hour of reckoning finally arrived.Magistrate Usiku sentenced Nikanor – 30 years old, married and the father of a small child – to an effective two-year prison term, as well as a further four-year jail term if he did not pay an additional fine and also did not pay back the remaining portion of the money he had stolen from the bank.The sentence that he received is a fine of N$70 000 or two years’ imprisonment, plus five years’ imprisonment of which three years were suspended for five years on condition that Nikanor repays at last N$168 064,85 that he still owes the bank, and is not again convicted of fraud and sent to prison for a crime committed during the period of the suspension.In all, Nikanor admitted that he had defrauded the bank of N$692 515,03.That was the sum total of the money that he illegally channelled into his own pockets when he committed fraud no fewer than 104 times between mid-December 2001 and late in May 2003.He was arrested on June 11 2003.Nikanor committed the fraud out of sheer greed, the Magistrate commented during the sentencing.He had been placed in a position of trust at the bank, and had ample time to reflect and reconsider his deeds while he committed the fraud over a considerable period of time, she said.He would probably have persisted with the crimes had he not been found out, she added.Nikanor never testified during his trial.His defence lawyer, Slysken Makando, addressed the Magistrate on his behalf to plead the court to extend mercy to Nikanor.Makando told the court that, except for an outstanding amount of N$168 064,85, Nikanor had repaid the rest of the money that he had received through the fraud to the bank.Makando asked the court to consider sentencing Nikanor to a wholly suspended sentence, as well as ordering that he repay the bank the outstanding amount.After his misdeeds were discovered, Nikanor lost his employment with the bank, Makando said.He has since 2004 been employed by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, the lawyer added.Nikanor had been employed at Standard Bank from the beginning of June 1997, Public Prosecutor Carlo McLeod informed the Magistrate.When he committed the fraud, he was responsible for the supervision of investments in the bank.With trust being the essence of banking, there could be no doubt that Nikanor had abused the trust that was given to him, McLeod remarked.Nikanor used various means to commit the fraud.In respect of 78 of the charges, committed between January 18 2002 and May 15 2003, he channelled a total of N$41 148,59 in penalty fees charged for the early redemption or cancellation of investments into a bank account that he had opened in the name of his then girlfriend.Those fees had actually been due to the bank itself.Nikanor also milked an investment account that had been created in the name of a fictitious person on 20 occasions between April 4 2002 and May 24 2003.Through that method, he managed to pocket N$97 181, which he on most occasions then deposited into his own credit-card account.The bulk of the money that Nikanor defrauded the bank with was siphoned out of interest payment accounts held by the bank.With each of these instances of fraud, Nikanor made major scores when he defrauded the bank by debiting the bank’s interest accounts and passing the money through another account before he channelled it into an account in his own name that was held at another bank.On one of the occasions he used this method, on January 17 2003, Nikanor dishonestly pocketed N$98 401,80.On another, on March 14 2003, he diverted N$62 411,08 into his own account, and on May 22 2003, he scored N$72 142,08.In all, he stole N$324 296,96 in this way.The dead were not spared either.Nikanor also raided an account into which the proceeds from the estate of someone who had died were paid.He withdrew N$10 000 from that account on February 15 2002 and paid the money into his own credit-card account, he admitted when he pleaded guilty.Nikanor has been free on bail pending the finalisation of his trial.For more than three years after the bank discovered his deceit, the consequences of his actions remained suspended over Nikanor. On Friday, though, the hour of reckoning finally arrived.Magistrate Usiku sentenced Nikanor – 30 years old, married and the father of a small child – to an effective two-year prison term, as well as a further four-year jail term if he did not pay an additional fine and also did not pay back the remaining portion of the money he had stolen from the bank.The sentence that he received is a fine of N$70 000 or two years’ imprisonment, plus five years’ imprisonment of which three years were suspended for five years on condition that Nikanor repays at last N$168 064,85 that he still owes the bank, and is not again convicted of fraud and sent to prison for a crime committed during the period of the suspension.In all, Nikanor admitted that he had defrauded the bank of N$692 515,03.That was the sum total of the money that he illegally channelled into his own pockets when he committed fraud no fewer than 104 times between mid-December 2001 and late in May 2003.He was arrested on June 11 2003.Nikanor committed the fraud out of sheer greed, the Magistrate commented during the sentencing.He had been placed in a position of trust at the bank, and had ample time to reflect and reconsider his deeds while he committed the fraud over a considerable period of time, she said.He would probably have persisted with the crimes had he not been found out, she added.Nikanor never testified during his trial.His defence lawyer, Slysken Makando, addressed the Magistrate on his behalf to plead the court to extend mercy to Nikanor.Makando told the court that, except for an outstanding amount of N$168 064,85, Nikanor had repaid the rest of the money that he had received through the fraud to the bank.Makando asked the court to consider sentencing Nikanor to a wholly suspended sentence, as well as ordering that he repay the bank the outstanding amount.After his misdeeds were discovered, Nikanor lost his employment with the bank, Makando said.He has since 2004 been employed by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, the lawyer added.Nikanor had been employed at Standard Bank from the beginning of June 1997, Public Prosecutor Carlo McLeod informed the Magistrate.When he committed the fraud, he was responsible for the supervision of investments in the bank.With trust being the essence of banking, there could be no doubt that Nikanor had abused the trust that was given to him, McLeod remarked.Nikanor used various means to commit the fraud.In respect of 78 of the charges, committed between January 18 2002 and May 15 2003, he channelled a total of N$41 148,59 in penalty fees charged for the early redemption or cancellation of investments into a bank account that he had opened in the name of his then girlfriend.Those fees had actually been due to the bank itself.Nikanor also milked an investment account that had been created in the name of a fictitious person on 20 occasions between April 4 2002 and May 24 2003.Through that method, he managed to pocket N$97 181, which he on most occasions then deposited into his own credit-card account.The bulk of the money that Nikanor defrauded the bank with was siphoned out of interest payment accounts held by the bank.With each of these instances of fraud, Nikanor made major scores when he defrauded the bank by debiting the bank’s interest accounts and passing the money through another account before he channelled it into an account in his own name that was held at another bank.On one of the occasions he used this method, on January 17 2003, Nikanor dishonestly pocketed N$98 401,80.On another, on March 14 2003, he diverted N$62 411,08 into his own account, and on May 22 2003, he scored N$72 142,08.In all, he stole N$324 296,96 in this way.The dead were not spared either.Nikanor also raided an account into which the proceeds from the estate of someone who had died were paid.He withdrew N$10 000 from that account on February 15 2002 and paid the money into his own credit-card account, he admitted when he pleaded guilty.Nikanor has been free on bail pending the finalisation of his trial.