THE President has asked Public Service Commissioner Teckla Lameck (picture: The Namibian) to stay away from her official job while the investigation of the corruption, fraud and bribery case in which she has been charged continues.Lameck (48) was granted bail of N$50 000 in the Windhoek Magistrates Court on Tuesday, after she had spent some five weeks in custody in Windhoek Central Prison. Her bail was paid in cash on the same day.
During her bail application, Lameck told Magistrate Gerrit van Pletzen that if released on bail, she would return to her job as Public Service Commissioner.
That is not to be now.
In a statement issued by the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Albert Kawana, yesterday, it was announced that President Hifikepunye Pohamba yesterday requested Lameck to temporarily absent herself from duties as a Commissioner of the Public Service Commission.
This step is being taken in terms of the Public Service Commission Act, until serious allegations of irregularities have been thoroughly investigated, Kawana stated.
Kawana also announced: The decision of His Excellency the President stems from serious allegations of irregularities which must be thoroughly investigated within the letter and spirit of the laws of our Republic. The temporary absence from duties will also facilitate an unhindered investigation.
The section of the Public Service Commission Act in terms of which the President has asked Lameck to absent herself from her duties states: The President may require a member of the Commission to absent himself or herself temporarily from his or her duties in order to afford the President the opportunity to consider the possible removal of such member from office (…).
Lameck has been a Public Service Commissioner since October 1997. Her current five-year term of office her third term in the position is set to end in October 2012.
Lameck, her business partner, Kongo Mokaxwa (30), and Chinese national Yang Fan (39) have been charged in connection with a multi-million dollar deal for the provision of Chinese-made X-ray scanning equipment to the Ministry of Finance that has so far already earned them a commission of over N$42 million.
The Finance Ministry and a Chinese manufacturer of X-ray scanning equipment, Nuctech Company, on May 14 last year signed an agreement in terms of which the Ministry would buy scanning equipment from Nuctech at a total cost of US$55,348 million. Nuctech was represented by Yang when that deal was signed.
A part of the agreement was that the Ministry had to make an advance payment of US$12,828 million to Nuctech. According to the agreement this payment was to be used solely for the advance payment for the Seller (Nuctech) to start production of the whole of the contract goods.
Five days after that agreement had been signed, a close corporation of which Lameck and Mokaxwa are the only members, Teko Trading CC, signed an agency agreement with Nuctech. In terms of that agreement, Teko Trading was to be paid a commission of US$12,828 million for acting as Nuctechs agents on the scanner provision contract.
The Finance Ministry made a payment of US$12,828 million (the equivalent of N$127,5 million at the time) to Nuctech at the end of February this year. Less then two weeks later, Nuctech transferred N$42,06 million to an account of Teko Trading.
From this account, N$9,39 million was paid directly to Lameck, N$8 million to Mokaxwa and N$16,8 million to Yang.
During her bail application this week, Lameck told the court that Yang, who is an employee of Nuctech, was also employed by Teko Trading.
She told the Magistrate that she informed the President of her business interests beyond her position as Public Service Commissioner. When she was told that the Public Service Commission Act states that a member of the Public Service Commission may not without the Presidents consent engage in or perform any remunerative work outside the duties of his or her office, Lameck told the court that she had disclosed her interests to Pohamba.
Thats what we do, she said when it was pointed out to her that disclosure of her business interests was not the same as asking for the Presidents consent.
The letter in which Lameck declared her business interests to Pohamba is dated December 11 2008 almost seven months after Teko Trading had concluded its lucrative US$12,828 million deal with Nuctech.
In the letter, Lameck made no mention of that deal or the income Teko Trading stood to receive as a result of its role in the Finance Ministrys contract with Nuctech.
Only Lameck and Mokaxwa were released on Tuesday after their bail had been paid. By yesterday afternoon, Yangs bail of N$250 000 had not been paid, and he remained in custody.
The Namibian
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